DEVIL
by Antares Starfire
Summary: The Disposition of the King and the Will of D. How do these two characteristics relate between themselves? Just what is this D? From the Dark Ages rose the World Government and it promptly erased every recording of that Era long gone. Deviates from cannon starting chapter 4.
1. Chapter 1

DEVIL

Chapter I

"_What is it that drives humanity? What propels a man to try and exceed his own limits? Potential is something that cannot be measured, and one is only restricted by oneself. The will to try and reach higher no matter the obstacles in your way; to go forward, disregarding the consequences; to not fear death for death is but another form of rest, but to not seek it either, because that would be admitting defeat. Few are the men with will strong enough to adhere to such life-style and among these there are precious fewer still that are destined to reign above everyone else. The Disposition of the King and the Will of D. How do these two characteristics relate between themselves? Just what is this D? For centuries scholars have sought the answer to these questions but now there is finally a plausible hypothesis. From the Dark Ages rose the World Government and it promptly erased every recording of that Era long gone. But I have searched deep and can now recover it. I record it here, in this poneglyph, our first successful reproduction of the original stones, so that it may survive the tides of time for generations to come. This knowledge is dangerous for the instated Powers and the World Giant has been revealed as having very fragile feet. They will attack us without a doubt, in an effort to erase the evidence we collected. We'll send this knowledge to the New World, May it hide there until the time is right. Until the Will awakens once again…"_

_Ohara, Unknown, two months before the Buster Call_

Luffy sat down, adjusting his trusty hat in his head to keep it from flying off his head with the breeze from the window. With precise movements he smoothed the surface of the large map and gazed upon its contents. The World gazed back at him, a meticulous work of marvelous precision, each country depicted with care and accuracy. Except for a long line, running across the equator. The Grand Line: Paradise, Hell; Luffy had heard every possible adjective annexed to the great sea. There was next to nothing inside the band that marked Grand Line, and it got even worse once one passed the Red Line in the direction of the sunrise. There was nothing there, only big letters which read "New World".

Luffy's hand trembled in excitement. He had asked Shanks about the Grand Line. It was the place where the real pirates were. The true masters of the seas called the place home. The only ones to ever have crossed Grand Line in its entire length had been the Great Pirate King Gold Roger and his crew and naturally, since Luffy wanted to become the next Pirate King and be deserving of the great pirate's inheritance, he had to go there.

Inheritance could, perhaps, be a term that would give the uninformed man a wrong understanding of what was at stake. Monkey D. Luffy didn't have family connection to the Gold Roger, at least not as far as he was aware of it. But the Pirate King had offered its precious treasure for the taking of the one who found it. One Piece, the greatest treasure in the world waited at the end of Grand Line and the one who got to it first would become the next king. That treasure was the product of the sweat and effort of the entire crew of Gold Roger's and in Luffy's mind carried with it the will of the ones who had assembled it. That was why he had to become a great pirate and conquer the Grand Line. He had to prove himself worthy of the title of King.

For years since that fateful day when Shanks had sacrificed his arm to save him from the sea monster Luffy had trained like a possessed man, strengthening his body to the best of his abilities and trying to master the powers given by the wretched Devil's Fruit he had eaten by mistake that day, ten years before, in a bar full of joyous pirates. The first was easy, since his Grandfather, in an effort to make him a "Strong Marine, boy!", had put him through the most challenging experiences he could manage to find, even going has far as throwing him off cliffs or leaving him stranded in the depths of wild forests for days straight. The last one not so much so. He had soon realized that his body now bore startling resemblances to rubber: he could stretch and compress his body just like a rubber band. He had also become unable to swim. It was apparent that the powers granted by the Devil's Fruit were not without a cost and, as Shanks had frantically explained him when he discovered what Luffy had eaten, he had forever lost the ability to swim; Luffy had become a hammer, the seaman's word for those who lacked the capability of keeping their head above water level.

Well, water under the bridge and all that. And if he couldn't swim then all Luffy had to do was to make sure he would never need to do that. And that meant he had to be strong enough to protect his ship, his future crew, and to avoid getting thrown in the water. And if the worst came to the worst at least he would go down trying!

Luffy rolled the map with a decisive gesture and left it in the drawer he had taken it from. Today was the day. Today he would start his own adventure; he would take the first step down the path to become the Pirate King. It was the perfect day too because his Grandfather was away on a mission for the Marines of the World Government.

"Wait for me, Shanks! I'm going!"

* * *

The Sun seemed to be in a bad mood. For the last two weeks, since Luffy had drifted away from the shores of Fuusha Village, his hometown, it had graced him with a scorching glare that gave Luffy the urge to gulp down a gallon of water every ten minutes – something he avoided doing in order to preserve his reserves of fresh water. He consumed only the strictly necessary amount and even doing so he was down to the last barrel of water. He supposed it was to be expected since he had only left with two barrels of water and one for food – the last one consumed in a single meal after he had dealt with the lingering sea monster in the vicinity of his hometown: the two of them had a score to settle and Luffy made him pay dearly for the lost arm of Shanks. It couldn't be helped really: his boat was small from the beginning and it had been made even smaller by the modifications Luffy had made in order for the vessel to support a small mast and a sail.

Now his lips were dry and his skin felt prickly, especially around the scar under his eye, where he had stabbed himself as a kid in a an effort to prove his courage to captain Shanks.

'I really am an idiot.' He laughed to himself looking around. The scenery was the same no matter where he looked: blue sea under blue sky. 'As if injuring myself would prove my value. If anything it made me look even more like a kid!'

He changed position so that he was no longer sitting on the top of his leg and let another hand of line go. He gave it an experimental push, using the resistance it made against the water as proof that there was still bait in the hook.

Luffy made a point to save at least part of the fishes he caught for the use of bait. He had made the mistake of eating the totality of his food on his first day and it had been sheer luck that a schooling of flying fish had passed by his boat. A few of them had been unfortunate enough to land on his small vessel – aided by Luffy's enthusiastic help, who had began slapping the fish in mid air in a famished effort to catch the largest quantity he could manage. He managed to retain five fishes and after a lot of internal debate decided to put two apart for the use of bait. The meal had been poor, at least by his usual standards, but at least he had eaten and managed to provide himself a steady, if repetitive supply of food by fishing. The types of fish swimming in the low depth waters were not too varied and after three days Luffy was pretty sure he had tasted them all. His favorite was a long fish with silvery scales – by far the most tasty when eaten raw - since he couldn't exactly lit a fire in the boat in order to cook the fish -; the flying fish didn't have much taste.

Luffy collected a few handfuls of sea water and splashed the bottom of the ship. By the end of the day the sun would have evaporated the water, leaving salt crystals he could use to at least attempt to give a bit more taste to the raw food. Tying the fishing string to one of his toes, Luffy manoeuvred across his tiny boat and settled down, protected by the shade of his small sail. Dropping the straw hat in front of his eyes in an effort to stop the reflection of the sun in the water, Luffy allowed himself to drift into a small nap.

In retrospect he should have known he was asking for trouble. Luffy woke up feeling a light tugging on his feet. At first he tried ignoring it but the feeling wouldn't leave and kept nagging him. Sighing in annoyance he lifted his head an looked around, only to find the toe he had tied the strong fishing string to stretched for a length three times that of his small boat. Judging from the movement, the vessel was being pulled along by whatever was hooked bellow the waters.

"WHOAH!" With a start, Luffy jumped to his feet and grabbed a hold of the line. With strong movements he started to pull the line back. "Good thing I used the strongest line I could get a hold of! This thing seems heavy!"

Regardless of its weight it was obvious the animal trapped in the hook wasn't amused by Luffy's actions. With a powerful rumble, the fish rose up and surfaced. Luffy watched, a little mystified, as a sea monster made its appearance.

The giant creature thrashed about for a little and then seemed to settle for pushing the boat and its sailor with increasing speed. Luffy let out a whoop of joy at the speed he was starting to achieve when a deafening sound reached his ears. Apparently the monster had decided that the best course of action for being freed somehow included wandering into a giant whirlpool. "Hmmm… I might be in trouble now." The boat rocked dangerously and faced the center of the whirlpool, "WHOAH! I better do something!"

With quick, frantic movements, Luffy extended the sail to its maximum in an effort to stall the Sea Monster's movement, since the speed of the dinghy had already surpassed the small breeze Luffy had been making use of. The conflicting forces were too much for the string to hold and it broke under the strain. Finally free, the sea creature fled the scene, leaving behind a baffled Luffy trapped in the whirlpool.

"Crap! Crap! Crap!" he thought while reaching for his small oar. But there was a smile on his face while he did so. Strangely, the thought of a gruesome death by asphyxiation in some giant whirlpool was something that had yet to occur him. All he could feel was the blood rushing throw his veins, the adrenaline of the moment and his heart beating strong in his chest. Luffy quickly started to row, in an effort to avert the disaster but it was to no avail. The boat was surely (and quickly) being dragged towards the center. "Desperate times call for desperate measures!" he thought absently. Grabbing a hold of the barrel, Luffy gulped down the remaining water. The boat started to spin uncontrollably and began to sink deeper and faster into the spinning mass of water.

"Oh shit!" was all he had time to say before jumping in the barrel and sealing it. There was nothing to do but trust in luck now…

* * *

Upon recovering conscience he couldn't honestly remember where he was. Oh, yeah… the giant whirlpool. And then he had jumped inside the barrel in an effort to escape the raging waters… that explained why it was so dark that Luffy couldn't even see his own nose. It also explained why he was so cramped. But what really made him wake up was all the talk about a barrel of rum needing to be drunk. 'Not that I appreciate rum all that much but hell, after all those days on restricted drinking I could probably drink a barrel alone.'

One of the voices was remarking that if their captain caught them drinking on the job their lives were forfeit. This got Luffy thinking: really, a good crew should be disciplined. If – no, _when_ he got his pirate crew he would make sure no one partied without telling the others. Everyone was entitled to food and drinking and fun. It was the answer that caught his attention, though.

"_We're the only ones here. Just the three of us and Coby."_ A rough voice said, _"And he ain't tellin' no one, right Coby?"_ there was a distinct menace in the voice now.

Luffy barely heard the bubbling answer of what seemed to be a very scared boy. The conversation was starting to get unpleasant and the rough voice reminded Luffy of the mountain robbers that had assaulted Makino's bar ten years ago. Besides, he needed to stretch a little. He experimentally tried to gently push the place where he supposed was the top of the barrel. All he met was resistance and, as his naturally small patience quickly vanished, he smashed through the wood. The result was his head and shoulders smashing through the barrel as the wood broke and his feet breaking free through the dislodged top. 'These idiots had the barrel upside down!' he realized amused.

His back cracked as he stretched his arms upwards and his exuberant personality couldn't hold the shout of satisfaction that escaped him: "YAWN! I SLEPT REALLY WELL! HAH AH AH!"

His satisfaction was met with three knifes pointed to his face. Luffy sobered immediately: he'd had more than his share of third kind encounters with knifes, most of them when stealing from the nobles of Goa city, back in his training days with Ace. And he didn't like knives to the face. He lifted his hands.

"Wow wow wow! Those are some sharp objects you guys have there. Let's calm down ok?"

One of the pirates, a guy with a black goatee, approached his face and looked down on Luffy, growling: "If ya don' want t' get hurt, Ah suggest ya start talkin' a bit more respec'fully, punk! Start by givin' us your every possession of worth."

"Yeah!" the largest one said, with the irritating voice Luffy had heard inside the barrel, "Then we'll decide whether ya live or don't!"

Luffy frowned, and looked around. He was in some sort of warehouse, with only small windows, all a bit too high, and the large entrance ahead of him. "Can I at least get out of the barrel?"

The pirates exchanged a glance and one said, "Very well. But don't try anything funny."

Using his arms to lift himself, Luffy started to exit the wooden trap. However, by the time his torso was fully out, he lunged forward and, using his arms as support, flipped his legs over his head and landed them in the head of the irritating guy in front of him.

The other two hesitated a split second before letting out a few exclamations of anger and moving to attack Luffy. The knives were sharp and one of them managed to give him a light wound on the side. Using the momentum gained by his dodging antics, the young man in the straw hat twisted and landed a kick on the belly of the pirate who had talked first. The man was sent flying a few feet, stopping against a wall and slopping down unconscious. The feat distracted the third member of the gang long enough to provide Luffy with the opportunity to land a punch on his dirty face, something the boy didn't hesitate in doing.

The fight was over in only a couple of seconds.

Luffy adjusted his hat before the excited shout of the boy he had almost forgot about brought him back to reality.

"That was amazing!" followed quickly by a complete 360 turn in behavior, "Are you mad? Now Lady Alvida will take your head for this. If you'd given them what they wanted, you'd have been able to escape with your life!"

"HAH!" Luffy answered him, taking his hat from his head and spinning him on the top of his finger, "As if I'd ever give my hat to those idiots."

"Your most valuable possession is that hat?" the boy asked, confused.

Luffy took a better look at him. The guy had an amusing hair of a pink shade (was it natural or was it just red hair bleached?) and sported the most ridiculous pair of glasses Luffy had seen. Even old Slap, Fuusha's mayor, didn't use that stile anymore. Now that he paid him more attention, Luffy could see the other wasn't really much younger than he was. He could even be older. He was, however, really short and seemed to still be trembling from the experiences he had been put through earlier.

"Say, who are you?" Luffy asked, curious.

The other startled and rubbed his head in embarrassment, "Ah! I'm sorry; I didn't even introduce myself yet! My name is Coby, I'm part of these pirate's crew." He clarified pointing towards the fallen trio.

"You're these jerks' crewmate?" Luffy asked incredulous.

"Ah, yes! I entered their ship by mistake, one day thinking it was a regular fishing boat and was forced to work for them. I'm Lady Alvida's cabin boy." He finished rather disheartened.

Luffy scratched his chin. Ever since his 17th birthday he had started getting facial hair and he was sometimes lazy when it came to shaving. "Pleased to meet you; I'm Luffy. But if you don't like them why don't you leave them?"

"ARE YOU CRAZY?" Coby shouted. He then seemed to realize something and, after looking fearfully to the entrance, continued in low, fast whispers, "Alvida-sama would kill me! No, no, no! I'd be as good as dead!"

"You're a cowardly thing, aren't you?" Luffy delivered deadpan, but without malice, as one makes a statement about the weather.

"You… you don't have to be so direct." Coby swallowed, "But you're right, of course. I'm a coward." He seemed to suddenly remember something and asked, "Hey, Luffy-san? What were you doing in that barrel? I found it drifting close to the shore…"

"Oh, you're the one that saved me? Thanks a bunch!" Luffy smiled widely and scored a slap on Coby's back. The other swayed from the impact, "My boat was sucked into a giant whirlpool and that was the only way I saw to get away with my life." He laughed.

"You got sucked into a giant whirlpool?"

"I got distracted and a sea monster pulled my boat into it when I was asleep." Luffy shrugged.

Coby stared at him open mouthed. "Wha..." he seemed to recollect himself and then inquired, "Luffy-san, if I may ask, why did you go out to the sea?"

"Why, that's simple: I can't become the Pirate King if I stay in land."

"Pirate King?" Coby repeated, not believing his ears.

"Yep, I'm gonna find One Piece." Luffy stated confidently. One of the unconscious pirates mumbled something and Luffy applied him a kick for good measure, assuring he stayed asleep for a while longer.

"But that's impossible!" the short boy said, entering another of his rants, "You'll have to travel across the entire Grand Line, the whole World Government will become your enemy, it's IMPOSSIBLE!"

Luffy applied a punch to his head, which had the desired effect of shutting him up.

"Oww… thanks, Luffy-san."

"Don't mention it: you were getting hysterical." Luffy twirled the straw hat in his fingers, "But Coby: no matter how hard it is this is my dream. I'll fight to the ends of the Earth for it. And if I die, at least I died trying, with no regrets. Don't you think that's the best way to live? Don't you have a dream as well?"

Coby seemed a little flustered and, after a while, started timidly, "Actually… I had a dream before getting stuck with these pirates: I wished to become a marine. You think I can do it, Luffy-san?" he asked almost fearfully.

Luffy's head perked up, "Huh? The Marines?"

"Yes! We'd become enemies, Luffy-san, but it is my lifelong dream!" tears started to form in the boys eyes, "I want to join the Navy and make sure no one ever has to go through the same ordeal I had to." He sniffled, "I'll join the Navy and I'll CAPTURE ALVIDA! Can I do it, Luffy-san?"

"How should I know?" Luffy asked him back. Coby looked disheartened for a moment, but Luffy continued, "But I do know this: You'll never know until you try! And Coby, just because you'll become a marine that doesn't mean we can't be friends!" he smiled, "After all, I'm a pirate and my grandfather's a marine!"

"Really?" Coby asked, baffled, "Then it's settled! I'll become a great marine and you'll become the greatest pirate. And I'll bring Alvida to justice!"

"WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT TAKING ME TO JUSTICE?" a booming voice was heard. Coby let out a scream off fear and, at the same time, a large object came crashing towards them, destroying part of the warehouse with it.

When the smoke cleared a large iron mace was stuck where they had been standing just minutes before. Luffy thanked the harsh training his grandfather had put him through, giving him the reflexes to dodge the attack. The goateed pirate hadn't been so lucky and the remains of his head now laid splattered all over the vicinity, coloring the debris in red and gray. Luffy frowned at the view. They had been unpleasant but didn't deserve to die…

A large woman stood in what had been the entrance to the warehouse, dressed in a ridiculous attire, complemented by the ugliest make up Luffy had ever seen. She approached the two of them in thunderous steps and collected the mace, lifting it effortlessly over her shoulders. One of the pirates that had accompanied her looked at the ground and said, "Ugh… Lady Alvida… I think that was Pig Slop."

The woman barely spared a glance at the corpse, "Humph, he couldn't avoid such a simple attack… he was useless."

Luffy wasn't liking the words he was listening and a tick had started to develop under his left eye.

"Say, Coby… Who's this ugly old bat?"

Judging by the enraged expression of the woman and the disbelieving ones from the other pirates, that hadn't been a very smart thing to say but Luffy couldn't care less at this point.

"Sh-sh-she's L-L-Lady Alvida, the captain of the Alvida Pirates!" he gulped frantically as Alvida took another step forward.

"She's their captain and she _killed them?_" Luffy asked Coby, a strange light making way towards his eyes.

"He was of no use to me, boy. And if you're not useful you don't deserve to be part of my crew. You got a problem with that boy?" the woman started walking towards them, "_This_ is the pirate hunter you hired to capture me, Coby? Don't make me laugh, you thought you could escape me with just this? I'll send him flying to the other side of the world!"

Coby screamed in terror and grabbed Luffy's coat, "Luffy-san! Repeat after me: Lady Alvida is the most… the most…" he hesitated and his hands trembled, before he screamed in a voice dripping with fear, "IS THE UGLIEST HAG OF ALL SEAS!"

Luffy laughed as the enraged woman started charging in their direction.

"No, Coby! She's not a Lady, not even a woman. She's worse than trash!" he said venomously, "Someone who treats comrades like pieces of disposable furniture… doesn't deserve to sail under a pirate flag!" Luffy dodged the strike of the Iron Mace and landed a powerful punch on Alvida's face. The pirate captain was sent flying backwards, much like what had happened previously with the other pirate, and Coby could only marvel at Luffy's super-human strength.

The subordinates looked at the unconscious Alvida before starting to try and run away. Jogging up to them, Luffy grabbed one by the shirt and said decisively, "Give Coby a boat. He's gonna join the Navy!"

**A/N.: Well... another story, this time in the world of One Piece. The first manga I read, I'm so excited about the possibilities! Also, I'll not post a new story until I've finished at least the Nightshade and one of the other two (either FOX or this one)... Otherwise I'll never finish a project. Hope you like.**

**Also: Seems like FFnet no longer recognizes scene breaks from Word, anyone knows why?  
**


	2. Chapter 2

DEVIL

Chapter II

"Well..." Luffy said, stretching, "I think it's about time for me to head on."

Coby, who had been ogling the marines' base from the window of the Inn, turned towards the man in the straw-hat, "What? But Luffy-san…" he hesitated, "How are you going to avoid losing yourself in the middle of the sea? You have absolutely no navigation skills!"

It was true. Luffy had been marveled at the capacity his shorter companion had of following directions in a map – something he was the first to admit not being able to do -, but he wasn't about to let such small details get in his way of assembling an amazing pirate crew and conquering Grand Line. He got up from the table, leaving a few coins to pay for his meal and went for the exit.

"Don't stress Coby! I'll just go where the Seas take me!"

"But what if you run out of food? Or water? What if-"

"Then I'll figure something out!" Luffy interrupted him.

The both of them stopped in the middle of the street. Coby took the moment to take in the man who had freed him from the hell of servitude Alvida had enslaved him in. He had a feeling of dread that told him he wouldn't see the pirate in the straw-hat again. Luffy smiled at him and waved good-bye, "See you around, Coby!"

He hadn't taken more than three steps when a shout from the other guy stopped him and made him turn around.

"Luffy-san! Thank you so much for your help! You have my eternal gratitude! I promise you I'll follow my dream like you intend to do too! I'll become the best marine there is and then… then I'll go after the pirate king in the straw-hat!" he finished in a shout of fervent conviction.

Luffy laughed gave him a thumb up. "It's a promise, Coby!"

He could hear the bespectacled young man sniffing a bit as he made his way to the port and he couldn't help but smile to himself. Coby would go far one day, he was sure of it. Too bad he hadn't wanted to join his pirate crew; he could have used his navigation skills. As it was, he was once again alone and Coby did have a point about travelling the seas without knowing how to use a map. He'd have to either learn it or find a navigator quickly. He rather preferred the second option.

Luffy sat down on the boat he had 'requested' from the Alvida's Pirates. The small vessel was about twice the size his last one had been and had the welcome addiction of a cabin he could use if the weather got too unpleasant – something his previous dinghy had been missing. He lifted his head as he suddenly remembered he didn't have any line or hooks for fishing. All of his equipment had been lost when he had been sucked into that giant whirlpool. If he ever encountered that sea monster again he would eat it.

This was a pleasant town, Luffy thought as he made is way through the streets in search for an equipment shop. The people outside barely spared him a glance, giving Luffy a sense of freedom and relaxation he hadn't felt since his days of training with Ace. In Fuusha, everyone always looked after Luffy and it had gotten even worse after his brother had left, three years before. He supposed it was just the way small villages were. Since everyone knew each other, people tended to see the others as part of their own family even when that was not the case.

Spotting a store, Luffy made for the entry.

"Hey, old man! Give me the sturdiest fishing lines you've got! And throw some good hooks there too." He said, greeting the store clerk loudly.

"Are you sure about that, boy? These lines aren't cheap! You'd better stick to some of these, unless you're planning on catching a sea king barehanded." The man replied, pointing to a box where a few, more common fishing lines sat.

"That sounds awesome, old man! I'll have to try it some time!"

The man peered over his glasses at the youth on the other side of the counter and was met with the eager face of Luffy, smiling in earnest at the reference of catching a sea king. He sighed in resignation and told the boy, "Fine, I hope you know what you're doing. I'll throw in two of these for free." And showed him a metal stick with several hooks coming out from every side.

"Oooh! What is this old man?" the youth's eyes shone with enthusiasm as the boy in the straw hat took the object and inspected it at close range.

"It's a special kind of hook. With this you can either catch a big animal without worrying about losing it OR, if you have skill, use it to catch several fish at the same time."

Luffy gave the clerk a smile that ran from one ear to the other, "Thanks, old man! How much?"

"75 B" the old man said, consulting the prices on a sheet of paper, "the hooks are free, we're not selling much of them, these days."

Luffy left the coins on the countertop and made for the exit, "Huh? Why's that, old man?"

The clerk smiled, "It's because there aren't many sea monsters in East Blue."

"Yeah, good thing I'm going to the Grand Line!" Luffy remarked, exiting and leaving behind a startled old man.

Luffy had not taken more than three steps outside when someone yelled his name in a strong voice he did not know.

"Monkey D. Luffy." It was a statement but it was also a question waiting for confirmation.

Luffy turned around. On the other side of the street stood a peculiar figure. It was a man in his early twenties, perhaps. He wore a white shirt and black trousers, and sported a green haramaki from which hung three katana. A bandanna on his head cast a shadow across his face that kept Luffy from accurately seeing his eyes.

"Who're you?" he asked in turn.

"My name is Roronoa Zoro. I'm a mercenary. Usually, I work as a pirate hunter but I do other things as well. I was tasked with the job of finding you." He put his right hand on the grip of the topmost sword in a casual threat. "You're grandfather hired me to take you back home. The only condition was that you were to be left alive so, if you don't want any trouble, I suggest you come peacefully… with… Me…. WHERE THE HELL HAS HE GONE TO?"

As soon as he had heard the words pirate hunter and grandfather in the same speech, Luffy bolted away from the man and quickly merged with the population in an effort to escape detection. So his grandfather had hired a mercenary to take him back, huh? He'd never have thought the old man would go so far to stop him from becoming a pirate, but he supposed it was to be expected. The man was a marine vice-admiral and had always made painfully clear how much he disapproved Luffy's "career choice".

Luffy ran as fast as he could, bumping into people in his hurry and earning himself a few curses as a result.

"THERE YOU ARE!"

"Shit!"

Every time he thought he had managed to lose the bounty hunter, the man appeared from nowhere and restarted the pursuit. Luffy decided it was time to take some drastic measures. He didn't want to engage this Zoro because, if the guy was anything like his grandfather – and the old marine had the annoying tendency to choose people he hung with by his own standards of strength -, there was a good possibility of him being able to beat the heck out of the young pirate. So, he did the next best thing.

'I never thought I'd have to use this so soon in my journey!'

"GOMU GOMU NO PISTOL!"

For the first time since the end of his training in the wilderness of the Corbo Mountains Luffy unleashed the powers of the devil fruit within him. Like so many times before, he felt a rush off something across his arm and the member extended forward, propelled by the momentum of the swing Luffy had charged it with.

His fist blew a hole on the side of the house he was facing and Luffy made a quick dash towards it. Following the tunnel of destruction he had created, the young pirate fled, all the while shouting apologies at the people in the house.

"Sorry for the mess!"

"Oops, coming through!"

"Sorry about that, Ossan!"

"Out of my way!"

Luffy frowned. He hadn't said that… he looked back, to the house he had just gotten out of and saw the wall being smashed by a series of quick consecutive slashes. The wooden wall blew outwards and the outline of Zoro, the pirate hunter, appeared in hot pursuit of Luffy.

"Shit! This guy doesn't quit!"

The streets were getting more crowded now. People came to ascertain the cause of all the tumult in the village. At the same time, they started to give Luffy a wide space. While this was good because it facilitated his movements and his running, it also became a disadvantage since he had now no way of quickly breaking the line of sight between him and the green haired swordsman.

One thing was becoming apparent. Even though he possessed a monstrous strength and, Luffy guessed, skill, the pirate hunter seemed to try and avoid injuring the innocent townspeople standing on the sidelines. Luffy privately awarded the bounty hunter a +1 point in his consideration scale. A sudden thought crossed his mind: if this guy was strong he could recruit him for his pirate crew! It would be a tricky thing to do for sure, since he had been hired by his grandfather precisely with the mission of keeping him from becoming a pirate but Luffy decided not to dwell on it too much.

Once again using his fruit powers, Luffy extended his arm and grabbed the corner of a side-alley, propelling himself towards it.

There was some more noise now, Luffy noted absently, as he made a sharp turn at the end of the alley, tracing his earlier steps with Coby, in his attempt to escape the pirate hunter's detection. The fact that that particular section of the street was devoid of life escaped his perception. He was almost sure he had finally managed to elude capture when he heard the voice of the swordsman.

"Demon Slash!"

The buildings in front of the straw-hat pirate collapsed and the debris scattered across the street, blocking any quick escape route Luffy might have head. Sweating, the young man turned around and attempted to find another way around the obstacle. Instead he was greeted with the figure of the mercenary.

The green haired youth gave Luffy a trembling, and somewhat exhausted, smile.

"You led me… on quite a chase!" he exclaimed, attempting to catch his breath.

"Thanks… If you enjoyed it… how about letting me do an encore?" Luffy answered, equally breathless.

"Wha- NO!" Roronoa Zoro, the pirate hunter, drew a deep breath and put one katana on his mouth. Placing the other two in position he spoke, his voice coming out clearly even though he had a hilt between his teeth, "I don't want to hurt you, but if you do not surrender you'll leave me no chance but to attack you."

"I don't want to fight you either. You seem to be a good person, let's just forget this."

The green haired man frowned, "That's not possible. I never fail a mission; your grandfather hired me to retrieve you and that's what I'm going to do."

"Join me."

The deadpan delivery surprised the swordsman.

"What?"

"Join me. Become my first-mate. Let's have an adventure together!"

"You want me to become a member of your pirate crew?" Zoro asked incredulously, "Hell, no! I won't become a criminal. I hate criminals!"

"Being a pirate does not equal being a criminal!" Luffy hotly answered back, "Being a Pirate means freedom. It means that you have the guts to bet your life on your dreams and to face the Seas like an equal! I won't let anyone badmouth the pirate flag!"

The swordsman hesitated for a fraction of a second before replying contemptuously, "A well rehearsed speech. But useless. If you won't come of your own free will, I guess I don't have any chance but to make you go back."

"You will try." Luffy said grimly, a serious expression, rarely seen on his face, settling down. Even though he had lots of years as an experienced fighter, even though he had brought down countless pirates and bandits, Zoro felt a shiver run down his back. The boy in front of him was radiating some powerful feelings. He had talked arrogantly and confidently in an effort to dissuade the other youth but he could see - this was not going to be an easy fight.

"DROP YOUR WEAPONS! RAISE YOUR ARMS ABOVE YOUR HEAD AND LIE DOWN ON YOUR STOMACH! BOTH OF YOU DO IT! DO IT NOW!"

Both Luffy and Zoro looked around finding, with no small surprise, that a whole platoon of marines had formed a perimeter around them and had their weapons pointed at them. One of them, sporting a captain's insignia, stepped forward and shouted an order once more.

"DROP YOUR WEAPONS NOW AND LIE DOWN!"

Luffy looked around. Zoro didn't seem to be ready to stand down before knowing if he intended to try and escaping again. But it was the faces of the townspeople that got his attention. They were fearful faces, full of worry for their own safety. It made him recall the feelings of helplessness he had felt when mountain bandits had occupied Makino's Bar, a decade before. Those looks were now directed at him, and it made him feel disgusted.

Ever so slowly, for the first and last time of his life, Monkey D. Luffy stood down, avoided a confrontation, and surrendered to the Marines.

* * *

"You are charged - and found guilty of, of course – disturbing public order, engaging in destructive activities and, most importantly, destroying HALF OF MY FUCKING TOWN!"

The man, a marine lieutenant with an axe for an arm and a metal jaw, angrily blew the smoke from the cigar he had been smoking before returning to charge.

"I am Axe-Hand Morgan, the highest ranking officer in this Marine HQ; therefore I am the greatest one! By harming my town you have shown disrespect to me! I should kill you for it!" he leaned forward on his desk and looked down at the straw-hat pirate, "Monkey D. Luffy. Your grandfather passed by several days ago and ordered me to capture you and warn him as soon as we had word of your presence. You're lucky he is a higher ranking officer and that a little bespectacled rascal identified you. This way you'll just be imprisoned instead of executed."

"Huh? You're talking about Coby? So he really became a marine admiral in this short time? I'm not even the pirate king yet!"

"Marine admiral? Him? Coming here spouting nonsense about wanting to be a marine… he is busy down in the basement, scrubbing and cleaning like the good worthless coward he is!"

"If he is worthless, you should just teach him so he can become useful; and if he is a coward you should make him strong, so that he'll have no need for fear. You should train him, not punish him for what he has no blame of. That should be your job as a marine officer!" Zoro spoke for the first time.

"You…" Morgan turned to growl at the swordsman, "Roronoa Zoro. I didn't like you from the first moment I heard of you and I'm disliking you more and more with each passing second. You also destroyed the town! And showed me disrespect! You presume to instruct me on how to manage my headquarters? Unforgivable!" at his signal, four marines emerged from the back of the room and grabbed the two troublemakers, restricting their movements with handcuffs, "Toss them both in a cell!"

"WHAT?" Zoro shouted, appearing incredulous, "I was the one who cornered him! I'm working for his grandfather!"

Axe-Hand Morgan gave him an unpleasant smirk, "Be that as it may, that accursed excuse for a Marine Garp didn't give us any information of you being our ally. You're a criminal and nothing more."

"OF COURSE HE DIDN'T! HE HIRED ME AFTER HE LEFT THIS PORT!"

"A matter of details. Enjoy your last night alive, Roronoa Zoro. For your disrespect you'll be awarded a public execution. That way everyone will know what happens if you defy my authority."

"Garp-san won't stand for it!" Zoro rebuked, desperately.

"Maybe but, as I've told you, We didn't know you were working with us…"

* * *

Luffy sat down quietly against one of the walls of the tiny cell he had been sharing with the pirate hunter. The green haired man had been pounding relentlessly against the bars holding them in, screaming in outrage for his liberty. Now that night had settled, he seemed to have given up to despair.

"Damn it! If only I had my swords I could slice through this cell and escape." He grumbled. The man turned to Luffy and screamed in accusation, "This is all your fault!"

"How the hell do you figure that one out?" he asked, frowning in confusion.

"If you hadn't kept trying to escape, if you had surrendered, I wouldn't be here!"

"If you hadn't kept trying to catch me we wouldn't be here either!" Luffy shot back.

"Aaarrgh!"

The mercenary sat down and rested his head between his hands, "I can't die here! I still have things to accomplish! I have a promise to keep." He whispered to himself.

The last bit got Luffy's attention, "What was that?"

"Huh?"

"That part about promises. What was it?"

"That's none of your business!" the man snapped. Then he sighed and seemed to have a change of mind, "It's not like it will matter if I tell you, at this rate." He looked at Luffy straight in the eye and started, "I was a student at a dojo once. There was a girl there, the daughter of the master, who was the best at swordsmanship there was. I looked up to her and wanted to surpass her. I trained every day with the goal of besting her." He laughed, "I lost every time. We were good friends, I think." His eyes got a faraway look, "Then, one day, she fell down a flight of stairs. She hit her head when she fell. There was nothing the master could have done, she was dead within moments." He said in a conflicted voice, "I made a promise on her deathbed that I'd become the greatest swordsman in the world. I left the dojo, my only home, and traveled in search for the greatest of all sword masters to best. I was forced to become a mercenary to get money for food…" he sighed in self-deprecation and whispered, "What am I doing? It's not like a pirate would understand the importance of promises."

"I do, actually." Luffy replied.

"What?"

"I do understand. I also became a pirate because of a promise!" And started telling him the story of how he had promised his brother, Shanks, and the deceased Sabo to set sails for the sea and to defy the oppression of the World Government Nobles as pirates.

To say that Zoro was astonished with the story was an understatement, but the real surprise was when he realized just _who_ this Shanks guy was.

"Wait a minute…" he interrupted, raising his hand. "You're telling me you made a promise and a bet with Shanks, The Red-Hair? One of the Four Emperors of the Sea?"

"Huh… Shanks is that great, huh? I should have expected it. Anyway, yeah I did. He gave me this Straw Hat as a symbol of our promise after he lost his arm saving me from a sea monster. I will return it to him when I become a great pirate and get a better crew than his!"

"Red Haired lost an arm for you? Who the devil are you?"

"I'm Luffy! The man who'll become the pirate king!" Luffy answered confidently.

His words brought the crushing reality back on to Zoro's shoulders.

"Well, none of that will matter to me. Tomorrow I'll be dead." It was the first time Luffy had seen his spirit break like that.

"Join me."

"You're still going on about that? I suppose it's tough to fail your journey without even gathering a crewmate, huh?"

"Become my First-Mate and I will get us out of here before my grandfather arrives; before you are even executed." Luffy pressed.

"Become your first-mate?" Zoro repeated.

"And I will get us out of here." Luffy confirmed.

The pirate hunter hung his head for a moment. Then he whispered, "So being a pirate is all about freedom, huh? And staking your life for your dreams?"

"That's right!" Luffy confirmed.

"I want to become the greatest swordsman in the world. I won't let anyone or anything get in the way of my dream. If you becoming the pirate king gets in the way of me becoming the greatest swordsman I won't hesitate in opening your guts for all to see!" he said with conviction in his eyes.

"Don't insult me." Luffy replied, crossing his arms and surprising the green haired man, "As the crew's captain, it is my duty to make sure all of your dreams are fulfilled before mine. If you're going to be part of my crew, of course you'll have to achieve such a small thing as that! After all, if I can help you becoming the best, what kind of king would I be?"

Zoro felt a smile tug at his face, "Heh! Well said! Very well… Captain. I pledge myself as your first-mate." Then his face became serious again, "How will you get us out of here?"

"Just watch!" Luffy answered, getting up.

Luffy approached the bars of the cell and dropped his straw-hat on the other side. Then, to the complete surprise and disbelief of his partner, pressed his face against the steel. His body twitched and deformed and, like a soft rubber doll, squeezed between the bars and got out of confinement. He picked the hat up.

"What the hell are you?" Zoro asked, mystified.

Luffy smiled brightly and announced, "I'm a rubber-man!" he turned around and peeked down the hall, "Now wait there for a moment."

Zoro listened to the fading footsteps. After what seemed to be an eternity, the sound of a muffled 'humph' and the noise of something hard hitting another reached his ears. There was a small tinkling and the footsteps returned, seeming more confident.

Luffy reappeared, holding a large set of keys in his hands, "Got it!"

"Great! Hurry up and get me out of here! Come on! What's taking you so long?" Zoro said, frustrated, as Luffy fumbled and tried key after key.

"I'm trying! I don't know which one is it – Ah, there it is!" he exclaimed in satisfaction.

The door opened with a creak and a low moan, as the abused and badly kept metal was forced to work. As he stepped out of the cell, Roronoa Zoro felt like he was being born again. The adrenaline rushed to his heart and made him feel alive again. He looked at the smiling face of the youth that would now be his captain and felt forever indebted to the young man.

"Let's go!"

The both of them made their way through the shadowy corridor in hurried but silent steps. The only source of light came from the lamp at the desk of the guard. He was unconscious.

"I had to knock him out to get the keys." Luffy explained as they passed by the marine, running "I hope he stays asleep long enough for us to escape!"

Zoro snuck one last glance at the man. "You broke the desk with his head." He said flatly, "I'd say he won't be waking up so soon. And he'll definitely feel that in the morning." He added almost as an afterthought.

Running up several flights of stairs, they arrived at a large circular hall. Several doors encircled them. Luffy looked around, confused. "I have no idea where the exit is!"

Zoro looked at him sideways, "It doesn't matter: I'm not leaving here without my swords, anyway."  
"Huh? Are your swords more valuable than your life?"

"Those swords are my most prized treasure!"

"Oh, that's alright then. Do you know where they are?"

Zoro pointed to a door with a sign hanging from it. "The basement seems like a good place to start."

The basement was pitch black. Their footsteps echoed in their ears and the only deviance from this monotony was the diffuse light coming from behind one of the many giant crates sitting around in the room and the low humming of an old tune.

Zoro cautiously approached the crate from which the sound came from, his plan to surprise the person on the other side and avoid giving the opportunity for him or her to sound the alarm. A good, cautious plan, ultimately condemned to failure, as Luffy carelessly walked past him and into the light.

"Huh? Coby?"

The young boy turned and adjusted his glasses, incredulous. "Luffy-san? What are you doing here?"

Seeing as his captain apparently knew the person, Zoro threw caution out the window and stepped into view as well. "You know this guy, Captain?"

Coby's eyes bulged almost to the point of popping out of his head. "AAAHH-mph!"

"Calm down and shut up!" both pirates hissed throw their teeth, urgently, clapping their hands over his mouth.

Coby tried to speak trough the barrier formed by their hands but only muffled sounds could be heard. When Luffy released him he said, in frantic hushed tones, "Luffy-san, that's Roronoa Zoro! A criminal and a demon! What are you doing with him?"

"Huh? Demon?" Zoro asked, as Luffy replied.

"He's my new crewmate. Zoro is my first-mate. He's a good person!"

"He's a bloodthirsty demon who killed thousands of pirates! You're in danger, Luffy-san!" Coby insisted urgently.

"Hey!" Zoro growled, pissed, "I swore allegiance to the Captain. Don't insinuate I'd betray him like that!"

Coby gulped and said with a trembling voice, "S-S-Sorry…"

"Coby, we're searching for Zoro's katana, do you know where they might be?" Luffy asked.

"K-katana?" Coby repeated looking up to the straw-hat captain, "I just finished indexing and boxing three of them." He pointed to three low, long boxes, "Apparently they belonged to some criminals that destroyed half the town before Lieutenant Morgan-san caught them… Heh?..." He exclaimed, as a sudden thought crossed his mind.

"Could it be… that you two are the criminals I heard about?" One look at the two pirate's smiling faces told him everything he needed to know. "B-But, if that's true, then I can't let you escape, Luffy-san!" he exclaimed, actually seeming horrified at the thought.

"Huh… you're saying you can stop us?" Zoro asked hauntingly.

Coby hung his head. "It's true that I cannot possibly stop any of you. But I'm a marine now. It's my job to capture and make sure criminals like pirates don't wander around like they damn well want…" he held onto his head in conflict with himself.

"Then what are you doing here?" Luffy asked, while Zoro went to retrieve the swords.

"What do you mean, Luffy-san?"

"Coby…" Luffy hesitated, swinging his hand around, in a sweeping motion that encompassed the entire room, "this is just like what you told me of Alvida. Doing trash jobs that no one else wants to do… this is not what being a marine is about!"

"Shut up! Like a pirate would know about things like that!" Coby protested hotly.

"My grandfather is a Marine." Luffy reminded the boy, flatly, "Why do you put up with this?" he asked in genuine curiosity.

"If I had to guess," Zoro remarked, returning to his captain's side while adjusting the swords to his waistband, "I'd say it's because he's gutless. From what you've told me, for most of his time in the sea, the only life he has known was the abuse he had to put up with Alvida." He continued, interrupting Coby's protest, "As twisted as the logic may sound, he actually feels safer doing this crap job rather than facing the unknown the Marine Training Course represents."

Coby, who had seemed to be inflating with self-righteous indignation, seemed to deflate at the considerations from the pirate.

"I-I… I really am worthless aren't I, Luffy-san?" he asked, dejected. "But no more! I won't permit you to escape, pirates!..." he hung his head down again, "But that still doesn't change the fact I can't stop either of you…"

"What are you, stupid?" Zoro asked, smiling down at the boy, "Even marines are allowed to call for reinforcements, no?"

Coby looked at them for a few seconds, before saying, "You'd better run away, pirates! I'm going to make the whole base fall down on you!"

Luffy laughed and turned to flee, followed by Zoro, when Coby's voice stopped them, once again.

"Luffy-san! The exit from the Marine Base is on the south door from the main hall! The one you came from to get here! Thank you so much! Now escape, quickly!"

"Thanks, Coby! Become an excellent marine!"

They were half-way up the stairs when Coby's screams of alarm echoed through the facility.

Shouts and orders could be heard all around them, as Luffy and his first-mate made their way through the marine base, in search for the exit. It hadn't taken long, with both of their horrid orientation skills, for them to get lost in the myriad of doors and corridors.

From time to time they heard a platoon of marines passing in one of the adjacent rooms or corridors to the one they'd be in.

"They can't have gone far, find them!"

"The teams at the exit still haven't reported movement, they must still be inside!"

"Damn it! If we fail to get them the lieutenant will have our skins!"

Zoro was starting to feel a little bit frustrated.

"God damn it, at this rate we'll be here all night!" he readied his swords, "Let's take a shortcut, Captain: Demon Slash!"

The attack tore through the walls in front of them, opening a clean path for them to flee through. With the judicious use of Zoro's swords and Luffy's fists, they soon found themselves on the outside. Five stores above ground level.

"WHOAAH!" Zoro screamed, trying fruitlessly to get back inside.

The marines seemed to have finally noticed them.

"Look! There they are! Get them!"

"What the… are they suicidal?"

"Ah ah ah ah!"

Luffy laughed at Zoro's face and grabbed a hold of his shirt. Then he grasped the edge of the hole Zoro had made with his other hand. "Gomu Gomu Bungee Jumping!"

His arm stretched and slowed the fall, making it possible for them to land safely on the ground bellow, leaving a bunch of marines gawking above them.

Zoro adjusted his headband, "Captain… warn me next time, OK?"

The other pirate barely gave a sign of having acknowledged his request, "That was fun! I gotta do that again, sometime."

"Yeah, well, may I suggest you try it sometime when we're not being chased by hordes of marines? Let's get out of here!"

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" roared an enraged voice.

Luffy and Zoro jumped out of the way right on time. Where they had stood before only a smoking crater stood. Lieutenant Axe-Hand Morgan lifted his weapon and stood ominously in front of the two pirates.

"You rank-less low lives… I'm going to make you pay for this embarrassment."

An unpleasant smirk made its way on to Zoro's face. "Oh. I was just itching to get my hands on you too! Captain!" he said to Luffy, "Let me take care of this clown. I've got some issues with him that need addressing."

"OK." Was Luffy's simple answer.

* * *

Marine Apprentice Coby just couldn't quite believe it. Just a few hours before he was down in some obscure basement scrubbing and cleaning like a lowly slave or house-wife. Now he was preparing to leave in the flag-ship of the World Government "Old Yeller" as an apprentice under the wing of the World's hero Vice-Admiral Garp himself!

After escaping, rather spectacularly, from the marine base, Monkey D. Luffy and Roronoa Zoro had proceeded to give a very rough beating to the ex-Marine Lieutenant Axe-Hand Morgan. After his defeat it had become apparent that the marines under Morgan's command didn't at all approve of the oppression he liked to inflict upon the citizens. The Straw-Hats had left the town with a recognition worthy of heroes. The name Straw-Hat Pirates had been given to the two "renegades" by a young girl, who had apparently found Luffy's hat to be a very distinguishing mark. The name had stuck and Coby couldn't honestly find a fault in it.

Then the Dog headed ship of Vice-Admiral Garp had arrived, roughly a few hours after his grandson had left. Coby still had difficulty in believing that Luffy's grandfather was the legendary hero famed for having cornered Gold Roger himself several times in the past. It turns out one of the captains under Morgan's command was actually a mole planted by the Vice-Admiral, who quickly and concisely explained the situation to the Marine officer as soon as Morgan started to try and blame Luffy and Zoro for the situation in town.

Now, Coby stood at the deck, watching the fading town as the ship moved towards their next destination. Garp had approached the youth and had explained what was in store for him for the next months. Even though some of the training he described had seemed quite scary, Coby was finally starting to feel he was getting closer to fulfilling his dream.

Steps from the ships commander distracted him from his thoughts. The man started a conversation with Garp, leaving Coby momentarily forgotten.

"Our reports say that the pirate hunter Zoro has joined your grandson's building pirate crew. He appears to now be his first-mate." He commented quietly, "Quite a turn of events, considering you hired him expressly to keep him from becoming a pirate, don't you think, Garp-san?"

"Hmm… it's true. I did hire him with that objective in mind." A fierce smile appeared on the bearded face of the seasoned marine, "But I didn't raise my grandson so that he would quit his dreams so easily. At least now I'm sure he has a strong companion to aid him in surviving!"

"I wonder… there are many individuals, much stronger than Zoro on the seas, Vice-Admiral. And we don't even have to go to the Grand Line to find them."

"Idiot. My boy forms bonds with people with an easiness that is almost ridiculous. The bonds of trustworthy crewmates push each member one step further into perfection! A man doesn't become strong by destroying enemies; he truly becomes powerful when protecting his treasures, be that friends or ideals." Garp laughed roughly, "I meant that, by putting himself under his care, Roronoa Zoro gave my grandson something to protect! He will become strong because of that!"

Garp looked at the setting sun and said, almost to himself, "I won't try to make you quit your dreams anymore brat. You managed to escape me again…" he started chuckling, "That's my grandson!"

* * *

**A/N.: Here. Since several people asked me to update this, here you have it. Expect the story to move up faster, from now on. I may, however, take some time to update all my stories, since I'm nearing the end of my Physics course and there are a LOT of exams to do... This chapter is rough. I wrote it as a sort of outlet to the stress accumulated from studying. I tried to fix any mistakes I found but there are likely a lot more... Enjoy.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter III

The waves crashing against the hull of the ship carried the same sonority they had before, when she'd tried to steal the Going Merry and flee from Baratie restaurant while the others were occupied with the mess with the pirate Don Krieg.

Keyword being "tried".

Tried, because she failed to realise those pirate hunter brothers were still on board. Tried, because she'd failed to successfully stop them from fleeing and rousing the alarm and tried because once the first mate of the Straw Hat Pirates put a foot inside the Going Merry, all her plans were slashed to smithereens. It had been relatively simple with the pirate hunters. Even though one had managed to escape, she'd had no trouble subduing – what was their name? - Yosaku and Johny? Even when the small fishing boat had somehow – and she still couldn't figure out how it had done it – caught up with the larger Caravel that was the Merry and Usopp had jumped aboard, she was still reasonably sure she would be able to somehow turn the situation to her advantage.

Then the Pirate Hunter Zoro had come.

His had been a sight to see and not in a good way either. His clothes were heavy with the weight of blood in them, seeping from the ugly wounds in his torso. From all accounts it was a feat that he had been able to stay conscious, let alone step into the ship by himself. If she were honest to herself she had been hard pressed to leave them then, given the grievous state of his injuries. But then he had given her a frigid look, grabbed one of his katanas and asked in a rough voice for her to give him a very good reason for him not to separate her head from her shoulders. He had done so matter-of-factly, as if he were commenting on the weather, which made it all the more terrifying.

She had not been prepared for that. They behave so differently from other pirates, actually helping people, that she had not really realised how dangerous they could also seem. At that moment she had had an inkling of what their opponents felt and saw when faced with Roronoa Zoro, and if this was what it felt like, then she never wanted to be in the same position against Luffy. She had been so out of sorts she still had not managed to provide a satisfactory answer when the Captain of the Straw Hat crew stepped aboard a few hours later.

Luffy had stepped onto the bridge of the Going Merry, where Usopp and Zoro had been keeping her under unwavering watchful eyes, followed by the blond chef who had served them back on the floating restaurant. Sanji was his name, she recalled. She had been so emotionally dishevelled she hadn't even been able to recall his name then. But what made it worse was the look Luffy had given her. It hadn't been his usual smile with sparkling eyes, but then she hadn't been expecting it to be. However, it hadn't been a loathsome glare either. He just looked at her with a blank face, as if he were seeing a stranger or not seeing her at all and it had made her want to throw herself at his feet and beg him to shout at her, to berate her and be mad, because this silent treatment was killing her inside.

Instead, she'd ended up confessing everything about Cocoyasi Village and Arlong.

Which brought her to her current situation.

Nami closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of droplets on her face, as the waves crashed against the bow of the Merry, launching foam and water into the air, and revelled in the liberating feeling of, for the first time in years, not having to worry about the future of her home-town. Arlong was gone, buried under tons of rubble and concrete, his Park of terror destroyed, his band of pirates disbanded and defeated. A new regiment of marines was being dispatched to her island, under new management and things were finally looking up.

All thanks to Luffy. All because of a chance encounter and a hasty team-up against Buggy.

It had been so easy a decision on what to do with her life now she no longer had to pass the days agonizing over how to free her town from oppression. It hadn't mattered that she had only known them for a short while – just a few weeks, barely two months at that. There was nothing for her to do in Cocoyasi any more. The Straw Hats had become her friends, her family. The Burglar Cat had become a pirate. Nami privately wondered if she should be bothered by how little that bothered her.

The sound of footsteps alerted her for the presence of someone else on the deck. The flip-flops slapping against bare feet told her the identity of the trespasser. There was only one person who wore such footwear in the entire ship.

"You're supposed to be asleep." Luffy commented, crashing against the balustrade and balancing a plate with meat pie in his hands.

She wasted no time in retaliating.

"So are you."

"I went and raided Sanji's fridge." he said with a smile, showing her a large piece of pie as if presenting proof for an outrageous statement.

"I'm surprised he didn't spot you entering the kitchen." Nami remarked. Even within only a few hours of dealing with the man, it was impossible not to spot how extremely possessive Sanji was when it came to the kitchen. The other thing that instantaneously became apparent was how much of a womaniser he really was. And while Nami would never have qualms about using this character flaw for her own advantage, she had to admit it could be tiresome, some times.

"I might have laced his wine, this evening." he admitted unconcernedly, "he needs rest, anyway. He and Zoro both. Their wounds from the fight at the restaurant hadn't healed when we got to Arlong, yet. And I wont tolerate sub-par meals just because he's not up to his usual self."

Nami looked at him as if he were a rare animal.

"What about you, dummy?" she asked incredulously, "in the space of a week you managed to engage in battle and defeat the two most notorious pirates in East Blue. _And_ you got yourself buried under a layer of rocks as well! You need resting too! What are you doing up?"

"I'm the Captain!" he stated with an odd sense of pride and responsibility, "It's my job to make sure you guys survive to achieve your goals. If I can not make sure Zoro becomes the best swordsman, Sanji reaches All Blue, Usopp becomes a great warrior and you draw a world map, what kind of Pirate King would I be?"

Nami stared at him for a few seconds absorbing the reality that he actually remembered the goals of his entire crew. This was so against his carefree character, he actually had to wave the pie in front of her face for her to realise he was offering her some of it.

"What." she mumbled somewhat incoherently, instinctively dodging the food.

"I said, 'do you want some?'" he repeated.

Nami accepted the food with a mildly numb expression, before blurting out a question that had been in her mind for some time since the start of the conversation.

"How the hell did you manage to drug the drinks?"

The rubber man gave her a most sly grin.

"See, there's this plant on the slopes of the mountains back home. You can only find it near the pine-trees up the very mountains. Boil five leaf in a half a gallon of water and that things puts even a bear to sleep!" he should know, he'd done it first hand.

"And you expect me to believe you've been keeping those weeds in your pockets the entire trip here?" the question might have come out a bit more acerbic than she'd liked, but the Captain didn't even appear to have noticed it. She had been so used to working alone that she still had trouble with her interactions with other people.

"Of course not. It's of no use dried up." he explained, munching on the pie and spitting little bits of it as he tried speaking with a full mouth.

"Close your mouth when chewing!" she admonished reflexively.

Luffy shrugged indifferently and continued on, heedless of her recommendation, "_But_, they did have it on the floating restaurant. It's used as a spice, when dried up, I guess. I palmed a few and brought them with me."

"You _stole_ them." she accused, finishing her slice.

"Like you have any room to talk." he retorted, looking faintly amused.

"That's different!" she asserted defensively, this time with genuine acidity.

"How the hell do you figure that one out?" Luffy asked, still acting as if he found what she said funny.

"I'm not a pirate!" she almost barked, "I stole because I needed to! Because I had to get money to free my village. But Pirates! You pirates steal just for the sake of stealing. For the love of causing chaos and destruction! For your own sick amusement and to hell with the suffering of innocents!"

She was getting really worked up. Her hands clenched into fists, her arms ram-rod straight alongside her body and a scowl in her face that made her look like she'd just bitten a particularly nasty lemon. Luffy looked at her silently, he too having finished the pie, until the girl's posture started to slowly change. Her angry countenance slipping into an ashamed grimace as Nami suddenly found herself trying to look anywhere but his face.

"I... I'm sorry." she finally managed, "I hadn't meant to blow up on you like that." she took a deep breath and continued, almost as if she had difficulty saying the words, "You didn't deserve it."

Luffy didn't answer and, after a small moment of silence, Nami lifted her head from where she'd very interestedly been examining the cracks on the wooden floor and found him still staring at her with that unnerving stare.

"There's nothing to apologise." he started, slowly, as if he hadn't quite decided what he wanted to say, "I think I understand what you're going through..."

"Oh yeah? How come?" she challenged, again more forceful than she meant. What was going on with her mouth tonight?

When he answered, the words came slowly as if he had to pull them from great depths before the memories came to surface and Nami noticed that his eyes gained an absent quality, as if he was seeing things that weren't there. This made for quite a picture as it was unusual for someone like Luffy, who tended to live in the present, to be assaulted by any kind of introspection.

"Back when I was a kid – I meant when I was younger!" he corrected when he saw the face she was making, "there was this boy we used to run around with. He was part of the nobility of the place but he wanted to sail the seas and see the world. So one day he built a raft and made out to the sea. But because he had painted a skull on a black banner, like a real pirate, the people of the town shot him down with the help of the marines. The point I'm trying to make is, for a long time I hated the marines – and most especially I hated the nobles who blew up a kid, blew up one of their own, because they didn't agree with his principles. So I would snap at everyone that made a better living than I did and soon enough I was angry at almost everyone. Eventually, and with the help of some people, I realised that I couldn't keep on with that outlook in life. Especially when I saw the faces of his parents at the funeral. Sure they were jerks but they wanted the best for their kid. And eventually I came to understand that not all people are the same. Not all nobles are trash. It's the same with pirates."

He lifted a hand to stop her from interrupting when she made to speak.

"I told you when we faced that dude with the knifes for nails that they were misguided. They were misguided because they just cared about getting as many riches as they could, even going as far as lying to a young woman who was sick. Buggy," he smiled at the distaste that jumped to Nami's face, "was the same. He only cared about treasure and both their crews saw nothing wrong with using shipmates to protect themselves." he started drumming his fingers pensively on the balustrade, "they do not understand what it means to be a Pirate."

"And you do?" Nami could not help but ask.

"Being a Pirate is about freedom." he stated resolutely as if he had thought about it several times before, "It's about not being restricted. I think that's what gets in the Marines' way about us: that we want to live our lives without their interference. They don't like people living out of their control."

Nami frowned, "That's surprisingly deep."

He barked out a laugh, "My Grandpa was the same way. Boy did I have trouble getting away from him and leaving to become a Pirate! What I'm trying to say is: yes, there are guys out there who are pirates and care nothing for others. There are guys out there who oppress innocents and destroy just for the sake of it. But that doesn't mean we have to be the same." he stated, a glint of excitement starting to make his way to his eyes and taking her along with it even with her reluctance, "I want us to see the World. To conquer the Grand Line and live a life of Adventure! To travel all seas and find the secrets there are to find. If we find One Piece along the way, great! If we don't it doesn't matter so long we had fun getting there! If we find someone in need of help, we can give it. If there's someone in need of safety, we can protect them. I want us to be free! Free to achieve our dreams without anyone saying it's impossible or that we can't do it. I want to see you all achieve _your_ dreams and the get mine! I want us all to be the best of friends, to be the tightest family there can be. If this is something you can get behind, then I guarantee you are in the right boat, right now." he paused dramatically before splitting his face in a childish, excited grin, "Nami: Are you with me?"

Nami just laughed. A surprised laugh that swept away the moodiness.

"You idiot." she commented, surprised to hear the fondness in her own voice, "Of course I am! What would I be here for if I weren't? I don't know what got over me to snap at you like that."

"You had a hard week."

She nodded, "But there's one condition!"

"Oh?"

"Yeah: I get to handle the finances."

You could practically see the money filling in her eyes.

"Sure. But we put our safety before personal riches." he argued back.

"I can agree to that." she said.

Luffy smiled.

"Good!" he exclaimed, giving her a pinch on the arm and earning a swat on the back of the head that almost made his eyes jump from their sockets, "I'm going to sleep."

He waved at her and made his way towards the castle of the ship, all the while murmuring erratically,

"We're devils and black sheep, we're really bad eggs.

We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot..."

Nami watched him go with a smile stuck on her face. They were good people, she decided. Especially Luffy. When they stopped in Rogue Town, before entering the Grand Line, she'd have to get him a gift. For his time. For his help. To show her appreciation.

Her decision made and her heart much more lighter than ever before, Nami made her way to her quarters, finishing, "Yo ho, Yo ho, a Pirate's life for me..."

* * *

Luffy waited in darkness for Nami to pass him by, before silently making his way back to the kitchen. The door was closed but, through the crack between it and the floor, it was possible to see the flickering light of a lantern.

"It's me." he said, gently knocking on the door once.

There was the rasping of a chair and then Sanji was there, letting him through. The lantern burned on the top of the table and cast shadows in both theirs and Zoro's face, adding to the feeling of mystery of their little conspiracy and making it feel as if they were all ghosts.

Luffy took the seat on the top of the table, as was his due as the captain, so that the green haired swordsman stood at his right side, while Sanji went behind him to the kitchen's counters, busying himself preparing some late sake.

"Seems everything went as well as it could have gone, Captain." Zoro commented in his rough voice.

"Yeah." Luffy agreed, before adding, "Zoro, you don't have to call me Captain all the time. Luffy will be enough – it's my name. I meant what I said to her about us being a family."

The Pirate Hunter shook his head.

"I know. And I respect that, Luffy. But I will call you captain in front of everyone else, whether you like it or not. There has to be a well established hierarchy, or else there would be problems. You're the Captain. Your word is law on this ship. Anyone who has a problem with that cannot stay on this crew. And as your first-mate, it's my job to remind people of that fact."

"I agree." Sanji corroborated, setting a tray on the table. There were three cups and a smoking bottle of hot beverage on it, waiting to be drunken. The cook idly blew a torrent of smoke to the air and leisurely sat down opposite to Zoro, "I'll call you by the name in informal situations and such, but if there's someone we don't know personally among us or if we are in any kind of trouble, Captain is the way to go."

"Fine, fine, whatever you guys say." Luffy said, shaking his head in exasperation. "but I was worried for a moment there. I thought she was going to ask to leave."

"Yes," Zoro agreed, "It seems that some of her issues were not resolved with the destruction of Arlong's Park."

"Well that's to be expected." Sanji stated matter-of-factly, "Nami-chan spent her entire life seeing the atrocities those monsters did to her friends and family and then was forced to actually work for them? There was bound to be a lot of pent up anger in her. And I don't think she's spent it all. In my opinion, what's happened is that Luffy just convinced her to not see us in the same light as the Arlong and the others."

"I didn't try to convince anyone." the Straw Hat Captain exclaimed rather forcefully, "and I meant every word I said to her."

"I wasn't saying otherwise, Captain." Sanji defended himself placidly, "But it's good your speech assuaged her fears any ways – I meant eased her fears," he clarified at Luffy's face.

"Why can't you guys speak like normal people?" Luffy complained, hating how whiny his voice sounded.

"It is not a character fault to be cultured, Captain." Zoro stated, filling their cups, "And you'd do well to become as such too: it makes it easier to convince people to respect you."

Luffy laughed in spite of himself, "Right. Well thanks for the help any ways. I probably wouldn't have caught up with the problem if you hadn't said anything Zoro, Sanji." he said, nodding to each of them in recognition.

"Just doing our jobs, Captain." Zoro replied easily, "After all, family helps each other."

"We sure do!" Luffy agreed, slamming his fist on the table and lifting the glass in the air.

The three men clicked their glasses together in a wordless toast and said in unison, before downing the drinks in one go:

"Drink up me 'earties, Yo ho!"

* * *

**A/N.: The third chapter of Devil. As I'm sure everyone noticed, there was quite a skip between this one and chapter two. This is because I think it unnecessary to recount things as they happen in the Manga/Anime. So, in this early stage, you'll be treated with the bits that deviate from cannon or that are used as character development. As the story progresses it will change consistently from cannon and the storytelling will be fluid and connected. This will happen after getting to Grand Line. The crew members will be the same, but I can't guarantee they'll meet in the same way :-)**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter and if you think it worthy, leave a review or ten.**

**And, as always, sorry for any mistakes.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter IV

Nami stepped inside the small shop, leaving the bubbling confusion that were the streets of Rogue Town. The place was a major tourist trap ever since the world famous (or infamous) Pirate King Gold Roger had been executed for his crimes against the World Government in the main plaza of the small city. Nami had heard stories about Gold Roger. Everyone had. His execution was supposed to have been the ultimate confirmation of the World Government's superiority and instead ended up being the greatest shit-storm in the history of the Marines. Instead of intimidating the rebels and pirates with his death, the Pirate King somehow turned the tables on the politicians and sparked a Pirate Age of the likes no one had seen before. All because he had launched a challenge at the world for someone to find his legendary treasure, One Piece.

Well. That wasn't its name, of course. But Gold Roger had said all his riches were in _one piece_, in a single place and the name had stuck. Mentioning it in a conversation was enough to spark speculations that stretched for days and to ignite the imagination of the most apathetic of people. Even the name of the Island where it was supposed to be had a magic quality to it: Rough Tale, the last island of Grand Line, reputed to have been discovered by the Jolly Rogers themselves. No one knew where exactly it was. Not even the Marines. It told of adventures and obstacles surpassed. It was exciting. And now she was on a crew of _pirates_, looking for it. With a crazy, rubber man for captain.

Which needed something befitting of his position, Nami had decided. As a token of appreciation for his help. They still had most of the money they'd gotten from Buggy, even though the _dummy_ had given his share to the village elders. But she had heeded his condition for letting her manage the finances and although she had given some to Sanji, Usopp and Zoro for their needs, she would not be paying her gift with the crew's money. This would come out of her own pocket, from the small change she had gotten from all the wallets she stole from the suckers back home.

The dummy had said he didn't need to buy anything.

The recently minted navigator of the Straw Hats made her way resolutely to the edge of the clothing shops and took a good look at the coats hanging on display. She had already visited two shops but had found nothing to her liking. This being a coastal town and the birthplace of the most infamous pirate ever, there were plenty of clothes alluding to the seafaring activities, but they all seemed fake to her. Too grandstanding, too... too eye-catching. She wanted something more befitting of a true captain, not something that screamed 'Hey, everyone! I've been to Rogue Town!'. Something serious, that would leave no room for doubt he was in charge. Something like Gold Rogers used.

Oh well... third time's the charm.

* * *

Luffy was bored out of his mind. And all because he wasn't allowed out of the ship. Wasn't that hilarious? The captain of the crew was prohibited from leaving his very ship! By his own crew! Or, to be precise, by his First Mate and his Navigator, specifically. He'd been looking forward to Rogue Town. There was some feeling of righteousness, to officially start their adventures into Grand Line from the hometown of the great Pirate King. But, of course, on par with what was to be expected form them, the Marines had to throw a wrench in the plans of everyone who was a pirate, even if they were not even aware how they had managed to screw with Luffy's plans. All because a few days earlier Nami had received her daily newspaper, and lo and behold in its pages lay Luffy's picture.

A part of him had been proud – he'd made it to the most wanted list! And he was quite sure he'd seen Zoro actually crack a smile at the poster. Nami, however, had completely flipped off, going into a horrified stance as she babbled about the dangers it would pose to him now that every marine base was aware of his existence. He'd tried to dismiss her fears but Usopp had joined the fray and by that time Zoro had apparently sobered enough to actually consider what Nami was saying. And of course when Zoro starts giving speeches that actually make _sense_, you have to start to consider them.

So he stayed on board while the rest of them went about their business in the town. Because they couldn't afford to cause a ruckus or be discovered right at the entrance of Grand Line in a place where the Navy's presence was particularly strong. This place had been where the Pirate Age had started, after all. The World Government had to save face, even if it was simply by taking absolute control of Gold Roger's hometown. And if he were to be honest... there really wasn't much interest for him here. Sure this was Gold Roger's hometown and sure this was where he last drew breath, but his death wasn't what interested him about the man. Neither were his beginnings. What he liked in the Pirate King was what he represented. What he had accomplished in life. And of that, there was nothing here. So maybe he'd thrown a smaller fit than he would usually have.

He'd left his trusty hat in his cabin, for a change. The port authorities tended to leave the crew of a ship alone, so long as they passed customs when disembarking or kept to themselves while on the vessel, but he didn't want someone to spot his figure on deck and get ideas about collecting the bounty so, whenever he went outside the castle, he made sure to let his hair go free.

The seaport was busting with activity. Ships left and arrived all the time, some simple fishing boat, others large merchant vessels that made business around East Blue. He remembered when one stopped by his village, every two months or so. There was even a monster ship from the Navy anchored a few ships away from them. Sailing on a boat without his pirate flag displayed had grated on his nerves but he could see Nami's and Zoro's wisdom on that particular point.

No one paid attention to him, which was good, since that was what they'd been aiming. Luffy had argued that they couldn't spend their lives fleeing in terror from the World Government and that their chosen lifestyles would inevitably see them all becoming wanted by the authorities, but Zoro had shot down that particular line of thought quickly simply by saying he agreed but that they weren't strong enough. With his defeat at the hands of that Mihawk guy, his position had been difficult to refute.

Haki.

That was what the supposed world's greatest swordsman had told them they lacked. Luffy had taken it with a grain of salt. There were only two things he believed fully in this world: his older brother was awesome. Luffy and his crew would eventually become the greatest of them all. Everything else could be a lie.

He'd asked Sanji, Usopp and Nami about it, after discussing the problem with Zoro, but no one knew anything about it. Usopp had started spouting some ethereal speech to convince him he actually knew what he was talking about, but the Pirate Hunter had given him a glare that had shut him up and eventually led him to acknowledge his own ignorance. Zoro had apparently taken upon himself to erase Usopp's less endearing traits. Why he didn't do the same with Sanji's womanizing, Luffy didn't know. Maybe the cook wasn't as easily intimidated.

He'd just returned to his quarters, hat once again on his head, seeking refuge from the storm that had been brewing since dawn, when he thought he heard noise from outside. Frowning, because by his estimations it was still too early for even Zoro, who usually got stuff done quicker than the rest of them, to return, he opened the door to the deck to be greeted to the sight of someone with a dark cape over them to protect them from the rain trying to pull the anchor of his ship free.

"The hell!" he murmured to himself, before shouting, "Oi! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

The man didn't even freeze slightly at the question. He turned around and instead of running away like a normal thief would have, he _attacked_.

Luffy barely had the time to dodge, baffled has he was by the idea that he was being attacked, right here on his own ship in broad day light. A part of him absently noted how ludicrous it was that this was happening even though the very reason he had remained aboard was to avoid getting in trouble in the first place.

Soon, he had no time for thoughts. The attacks of the man were singularly hurtful, and no matter what he did, whenever he did get the intruder, his own strikes seemed to merely... bounce off.

"This is very peculiar." the man commented, as if discussing the weather, while trading blows "I'd have expected a merchant vessel, even one small such as this, to be better guarded."

Luffy opened his mouth, likely to inform the idiot that this was no Merchant Ship, when a particularly vicious blow almost broke his jaw and sent him tumbling backwards against one of the walls. That was unexpected, but nothing in this fight was going as he was used to: his attacks had no visible effect and no matter what Luffy did, the other's blows always managed to hurt him more than they should. It was an aftereffect of having a body made of proverbial rubber, the fact that physical blows did something of a decreased damage to him. Usually, he required being hit with a considerably more powerful attack to suffer the same degree of damage a normal human would. But if anything, in this fight he was receiving _more_ damage!

For the first time in a very long time, Luffy was seriously entertaining the notion that he might lose a fight.

At least until Zoro and Sanji arrived.

"Demon Slash!"

"Anti-Manner Kick Course!"

Luffy couldn't contain the elation that rose in his chest, as his crew-mates delivered some of their most powerful attacks to the side of the intruder. Zoro's slash traveled across the deck and through the disguised man, ending up smashing the opposite wall of the ship, while Sanji's leg drop caught the intruder right on the head, the force of impact cracking the floor and lifting a dust cloud that, for a moment, obscured the fighters.

Luffy got up just in time to see an arm lash out against the cook and deliver a back handed strike that sent the teen flying over the board of the Going Merry.

"Oi, oi." the masked intruder complained while the dust settled, "Don't go around destroying my ship – I need it."

"This is NOT YOUR SHIP!"

Zoro and Luffy attacked at the same time, their anger at the situation and the dismissal evident in the assaulter's eyes adding impact to their strikes. In one synchronized movement, the two most powerful individuals in the crew delivered their blows to their enemy, whose reaction was not as impassive as it had been the previous times. The intruder's feet lifted from the floor and the man was launched back a few feet, managing to roll on impact, absorbing the slam against the wood and getting to his feet almost immediately.

This didn't seem to drop Zoro's spirits, though.

"Finally!" the swordsman grinned ferociously, "I was starting to thing we'd never land a good blow. Now all we need is-"

The practitioner of the three swords style didn't get the chance to finish whatever he was about to say. An unbearable pressure suddenly made itself known and, immediately, the two companions were on their knees, struggling to keep conscious even as the mysterious man got up and spat a bit of blood out.

"Now that was better." the man commented, his voice barely above a whisper, before rising in volume for them to hear easily, "But still weak." he frowned, "You don't seem much like merchants to tell the truth. But you're not marines either, or you wouldn't have such a wimpy ship... that leaves adventurers, bounty hunters or pirates, all of which would indicate that you plan to go to Grand Line, probably."

The man squatted to bring his face to their level and whispered, mockingly, "You're awfully unprepared for that." this close, it was possible to see past the cowl. The man had an angular face, gaunt and almost harsh, as if he was used to spend large periods of time without food or under difficult conditions. He had patches of hair on his face as if he had shaved carelessly with a sharp rock instead of a razor. Across his face, on the left side, a blood-red tribal tattoo gave him an almost feral quality. "You have no strength. You have no skill." he continued – and each sentence was like barbed wire to Luffy, as the man kept criticizing their abilities, "You're overdependent of your usual powers, you can't adapt... You lack Will." and something in the way he said it made Zoro and Luffy imagine the word as if capitalized. "Your spirit, your... Haki, is lacking." he finished scathingly.

"Believe it or not, I'm actually doing you guys a favor." he chuckled. Then he delivered two brutal kicks that sent both Zoro and Luffy over the balustrade and into the docking bay. Just as Nami arrived at the scene.

The man approached the border of the ship and took notice of the girl, alternatively staring, slack jawed, at both her partners and the intruder on the ship, above them. With the corner of his eye, the masked enemy also spied another kid, with a ridiculously long nose, helping the blonde man back to the dock, pulling him from the water.

"What's this?" he asked aloud, catching the attention of not only the rightful owners of the ship but also the people going about their business in the docks. "Do you think this is some sort of joy trip? Hilarious! What would you do if you meet an overwhelming enemy? What if he disposed of you strong ones first and had the weak at their mercy? What if he did this?"

And, swift as a snake, he pulled a knife from his cloak and hurled it at the Straw Hat's Navigator, who had frozen on the spot, immobilized by the strange man's power.

Years later, after everything had been done and gone through, Luffy would still find it difficult to describe the emotions that assaulted him at that moment. He just remembered seeing everything as if in slow motion. The knife traveling through the air and Nami's face, her mouth opening in a soundless scream of incomprehension. Something inside him snapped. And suddenly, the pressure lifted. If asked about it later, he would say that maybe he could have moved, maybe he would have even managed to reach Nami before the knife. After all, she was right in front of him and to the side, just a few paces away. But he didn't do it and maybe that was for the best. Instead, something seemed to well up from deep inside him, a rage, a frustration, a need to take control of the situation, an assortment of feelings and emotions that coalesced into a single word.

"STOOOP!"

It wasn't a scream. It wasn't a request. It was an order. It started slow and low and rose, in fury and power, to a shout that deafened all the noises in the docks. The wind moved as if in answer, dust rose in response and the Straw Hat crew suddenly felt an enormous, if momentous isolated pressure added to the top of the one already over them. Which turned out to be the fortune that saved Nami. Unable to cope with the psychological assault, her mind shut down and she dropped, like a puppet with its strings cut, just in time for the knife to pass over her falling head and bury itself in a cart behind the girl. Zoro used his hands to steady himself against the ground, Usopp dropped Sanji and fell into the water right after him, forcing the cook to haul the now unconscious boy over the edge of the dock and onto the ground.

"Good!" the man's voice sounded strange. Approving. "Remember that! Remember that feeling of helplessness, remember the will, the force to overthrow it. And come find me. In the Grand Line!"

The pressure reasserted itself, stronger than before, and this time, even Zoro lost consciousness. And Luffy was forced to watch, helpless, as his ship, the Going Merry, was led out of the docks into the sea, stolen by a man who had defeated them all, the only evidence of its presence being his straw hat that the man had thrown overboard, like a piece of trash.

* * *

The oil burners left the nightly streets of Rogue Town bathed in a flickering orange light that sometimes gave the illusion of the whole small city being on fire. Rogue Town was a tourist spot and a merchant stop, situated at the very edge of East Blue, close to the Red Line, the world spanning continent that divided the globe in two hemispheres. But the great activity of daylight disappeared almost completely after dark and at night only the errant roamer could be seen, hurrying about their business and keeping their eyes on the ground, careful not to attract the attention of unsavory individuals. Because of this, none of the few people still on the street noticed as a svelte shadow darted across the roofs of the buildings, making fast way towards the center of the town.

_Nami had not known what to do. This was a feeling she was ill prepared to deal with. She'd always been, especially when the situations evoking such feelings were in some way related to the situation her hometown had once been in. When the Straw Hats had made rough work of the fish-men controlling Arlong Park, Nami had thought she could finally put such worries behind. She had meanwhile started to learn that she hadn't really left them back home – she'd just transferred them to her crew and her captain._

_Ever since their ship had gotten stolen, three days before, Luffy had been all but inapproachable. The captain of the Straw Hat crew had isolated himself in one of the small rooms they had managed to rent with what few money they had left, in a decrepit inn by the docks, and barely spoke a word to anyone. Instead he just stared vacantly at nothing, a terribly dark visage ever present on his face._

_She had tried to strike a conversation before but her attempts had always been met with stony silent. Not exactly the brooding, insulting, dismissive silent, no. It was more as if he didn't even hear her. So when she tried again, she was not exactly putting much hope in success._

"_Are- Are you alright, Luffy?"_

_Yes, Nami wasn't expecting an answer. However, that changed when he shifted in the chair he'd been sitting on for two days and turned to face her. The devastation present on his face surprised her. When he spoke, it was as if he had to fight, to drag the words out from a great depth, to speak._

"_No, I don't think I am..."_

_Nami waited for a moment but it seemed she wasn't going to get anything more out of him without some prodding._

_Fine._

"_Is it... Is it because we lost?" Nami couldn't help but wince as she said it, the memory of that recent day still fresh on everyone's minds._

_Luffy didn't say a word but the air got heavier and she could see the tightening of the muscles around his mouth, along with the deathly grip he'd started to enforce on the chair's arms. She knew she was treading on sensitive ground and the pressure she was feeling was eerily reminiscent of the overwhelming force that had been placed upon them on the docks. It stood around them, around Luffy, ever since that day, as if it was barely contained or as if Luffy himself didn't quite know how to control it._

_Nami knew she wasn't a brave person. She didn't consider herself a coward, it's just that, when confronted with an opponent stranger than herself, she preferred to do the sensible thing and beat a strategic retreat rather than stay and participate in grudge matches like some people would do. Luffy was much stronger than she was. Nami had no doubts that, if it ever came to it, he would beat her in seconds, probably without even breaking a sweat. And this "Dark Luffy" he'd had going the last few days definitely got her danger sense going off the charts. But something told her to stay, in this case: to not retreat but press on and see what lay beyond. And so she did._

"_Did you think there was no one out there who could take you on?" she asked, boldly._

_He actually seemed indignant at the question and, for a moment, the pressure lifted and he was back at being the captain of the days before Rogue Town._

"_What?" he asked, turning his head to face her so quickly she was surprised it didn't snap. His mouth was slightly open, as if he were surprised at the question, "Of course not." he assured her, "My Grandpa regularly beat the crap out of me before I left my village. If that old coot can do it, there was bound to be someone else who could do it too!"_

"_Then what is the problem?!" she insisted, frustrated, "You know, for the last two days Zoro hasn't left the door to this room, waiting for his 'Captain to come up with a plan'. That's his words, do you hear? Sanji's got work on a restaurant with a ridiculous return so he could pay for our stay here until that 'plan' comes out." she didn't mean for the word to come out so acidic but it did and now she could only keep going, even if her heart squeezed every time Luffy winced at her words, "and Usopp's spend the days biting through so much of his nails it's a miracle he still has fingers. So what is the problem? Because _we_ also lost a ship! _We_ also took a beating! And all _we_ are waiting for is for _our captain_ to say the word and we'll get out of here and find the bastard and give him a trashing he'll never forget even if we have to steal a ship for that!"_

_She finished slightly out of breath._

_Luffy ran his heads through his hair in a frustrated motion and seemed to reach a decision._

"_You got it all wrong." he stated, "I don't care somebody beat us – well, I do," he amended, "but that's not the point. The point is whatever that guy did to us? I did it too."_

_He looked at her as if trying to will her to understand._

"_But... that's a good thing, isn't it?" she blurted. From his face, apparently she didn't._

"_You don't understand." he kept on, piteously, "Half a week ago I was spouting to you how being a Pirate was all about freedom. Then yesterday our freedom got checked by that bastard. He didn't just beat us up, he ordered us to to what he wanted, he told us to stay still and we did. We froze and let him take the ship. And then I went and did the same thing! It got so bad some of you actually lost consciousness._ I butchered your freedom! And I was supposed to protect it!_"_

_Nami stood there, aping his earlier expression, her mouth open in disbelief. This was what was bothering him?_

"_Bullshit!" she snapped and he actually recoiled, looking surprised at her reaction, "Luffy if it wasn't for you I'd have died in that dock. That knife would have gotten me right on the forehead. As far as I'm concerned you saved my life and if you don't like your ability knocking us out than either train us to resist it or train yourself to control it. Don't sit around mopping like a little noble girl whose crush won't return her letters!"_

_For a moment he just stood there, leaning back on the chair as if to try and get a little further away from the harshness of her words and Nami feared she'd gone too far this time. Then he spasmed, his face contorted and she feared he was having some kind of fit. And he was. Of laughter._

_It was a slightly hysterical laughter, granted, but it was still better than his previous state of mind, in Nami's opinion._

_Finally, Luffy looked back at her._

"_Thanks, Nami. I needed that."_

"_What? The laughter or the kick in the ass?" she asked, only half joking._

"_Both." he admitted._

_They stood a moment in silence, grinning at each other like loonies, until she had to ask._

"_What will we do, Captain?"_

_He smiled at her._

"_Well... you said something about stealing a ship?"_

And here she was. It was a crazy plan. It had Luffy's fingerprints all over it. She doubted anyone would come up with something as crazy as he had. But after he'd explained to them what he thought they could do, after Sanji had done some investigations of his own with the restaurant staff and after Usopp had returned to the apartment with the news on the festivities soon to come, it had actually gone from a crazy plan to a feasible plan. When they'd ironed out the finer details of the job everyone had a smile on their faces and Zoro looked as if all his faith in Luffy had been justified. She only wished he remembered _she_ had been the one to get him out of the room.

Nami ran swiftly across the roof tops, unseen. Completely clad in black cloth, wrapped around her figure, arms, neck, head, torso, legs and part of her feet and hands, pieces of tissue flew in her wake, giving her the appearance of a macabre specter, like a black mummy whose wrappings had started to come loose. The only other thing not cover, aside from her fingers and toes, was her the eye line of her face, her orbs shining brightly in the night.

With a small, inaudible grunt, the Burglar Cat jumped, air zipping past her ears, and crossed the street in a single leap, landing neatly on the balcony where the workers sometimes liked to watch the activity of the town. Of course there were none there, at this hour of the night. The only people in the building were security guards: two at the entrance, down at ground level, and one at each entrance and exit of each flight of stairs, if Usopp's spying and Sanji's gossiping were anything to go by. She thought they were. With the continuous presence of one of the best Marine Captains in the entire East Blue, she didn't think the Navy expected anyone to try and break into their day quarters.

The arrogance and complacency from being stationed in one of the most peaceful oceans in the world suited the Straw Hats just fine.

And it was high time for someone to give a kick in the pants of the Marines, in Nami's personal opinion. That she'd be a part of it only made the event that much sweeter.

This was phase one of their plan and it was practically all on her. She knew Usopp was in one of the rooftops across the street, using his ridiculous home-made lens mechanism to search the windows of the Marine's administrative offices, and she was sure she'd spied Zoro down on the street, keeping an eye on the entrance hall and the guards stationed there, but if she failed here the entire plan would go down the drain. Never before had anyone else depended on the success of one of her heists so it was with slightly trembling fingers that she inserted the lock-pick in the door. It opened with a thankfully small click and, with precise, slow movements born from experience, Nami eased the door open and slipped in unnoticed.

Inside, the room was dark and there was a strong, persistent smell of tobacco hanging in the air. After letting her eyes get used to the darkness, she was able to make out the outline of the furniture. The moonless, cloudy sky had been a blessing when sneaking into the building but, once inside, she found herself wishing for a bit more illumination.

Keeping her back to the windows, in order to reduce the chance of someone outside noticing the glare from the flame, Nami rummaged through the pouch on her hip and extracted a small candle. Lighting it, she saw that the promising looking papers on the main table were nothing more than reports on the arrivals and departures of the ships on the dock. With a dismayed heart, she saw that the Going Merry was still only listed on the arrival list.

She was examining an interesting map that detailed the areas of East Blue the Marines considered particularly problematic when she caught a fleeting flash on one of the windows through the corner of her eye. Alerted, Nami approached the window and waited with trepidation. There it was again! Across the street: two consecutive flashes. With her heart in her throat, Nami started counting. 1... 2... 3... two more flashes. The signal from Usopp that someone was approaching from the side-rooms. Cursing herself for getting sidetracked, Nami suddenly became aware of the muffled sounds of footsteps and quiet conversation. With hurried movements, she exited to the balcony and vaulted over the alabaster balustrade, thanking her naked toes that helped her sticking to the wall, as she hanged precariously from the structure, hidden from the sight of anyone who entered the balcony.

She'd barely managed to steady herself when she heard the door open. With her heart in her throat, Nami waited, not even daring to breathe, as the Marines patrolled the room and confirmed everything was it should. One of them opened the windowed door of the veranda and she was able to hear the conversation.

"... in my throat."

"With the amount of smokes the Captain has, it's not surprising. Seriously, I've seen him go three at a time. Must be because of his Devil Fruit power."

"Probably. Last week he called me to this office and spoke to my face. I almost choked myself trying to keep from coughing. Personally..."

The words became unintelligible as the guards closed the door and moved away from her. A few instants later, three flashes from Usopp told her it was safe to continue again.

This time, she was much faster. The interruption had been unfortunate but not entirely unexpected. However, she couldn't risk being found out again. Silently tiptoeing to the desk, Nami lit the candle once again and practically launched herself at the chair in her hurry. The amount of papers on the desk alone made for a daunting task. This was going to take some time.

With a rising sense of panic, the Burglar Cat plunged through the reports and lists, trying to find the relevant documents. With some indignation and not a small amount of anger, she noticed that one of the reports detailed the situation on Arlong's Park, marked with a date older than a year before. Pushing the questions to the back of his mind (They'd known about it! Why hadn't they done anything?!) she returned her attention to the task at hand and barely contained a shout of triumph when she grabbed a two sheet document with the detailed procedure for the upcoming festival. This was it! This was what she'd been looking for!

Her sense of victory was short-lived, though, soon replaced by rushing feeling of worry, as Usopp's code once again flashed through the window. A one flash code this time, signaling she still had some time. With slightly panicked movements, Nami grabbed two sheets of clear paper and set down to copy the document as precisely as she could. She was almost finished when Usopp once again signaled the two flash code, which meant she was running out of time fast.

"Come on, come on..." she urged herself.

The last lines were probably unreadable to anyone but herself, but as Nami once again heard the footsteps of the approaching guards, she just didn't have any option other than hurriedly scratching down the last sentences.

Without having the opportunity to even being silent, Nami flew to the balcony, ignoring the papers that fell to the floor in her hurry and didn't have the time to close the door to the outside. As she once again tried to reclaim her previous spot under the structure, her feet slipped and she was left hanging from the ledge, right as the guards re-entered the room, three floors above ground level. It was a precarious position, even more so if one considered that she was not completely obscured by the floor of the balcony and that she was hanging from the tips of her fingers with one arm keeping a death grip on the copies she'd just made. Praying to all the gods she didn't believe, Nami held on to the best of her ability, while the Marines on patrol let out a gasp of surprise at the mess she'd left the room in.

"What the hell?! Has someone been here?"

"This place is a mess – Hey! The door to the balcony is open!"

The footsteps approached and, for a terrifying moment, Nami feared she'd be discovered. But the noise stopped just before the exit they reached outside.

"Are you sure you closed the door last time?"

"...Yes?"

There was a sound of frustration.

"Idiot. Come on, help me get this stuff back in place. If the Captain finds out we made this mess, he'll have our hides. I don't want to stay with the mercenaries on guard duty on the festival night."

"I'm moving..."

There was a forceful click as the door to the room closed and Nami finally breathed a sigh of relief. Her arm hurt like hell and her fingers where getting bruised from the harshness of the floor of the balcony but she still held on for dear life. Never mind the fact that she'd probably not survive the fall, the marines would be made aware of her presence in the town. If their files on Luffy had been updated, they'd know she was part of her crew and they'd know they were there. Fortunately, Usopp didn't take too long to give her the all clear sign and she was able to make more focused efforts to regain her grip and footing. When she finally managed to climb back to safety, her finger and toes were bloodied from her efforts, leaving small smudges on the wall. It was probable they would notice anything but, even so, she made the effort to clean them. It didn't completely erase them but it did make them invisible unless you stuck your nose right next to them. With a trembling sigh and a final look inside, Nami used the corner of the balustrade as a vantage point and flung herself away from the building.

* * *

"Luffy, for the last time, I'm alright!"

Trying to come across as annoyed when one has a dummy endearingly trying to wrap ligatures on the tips of your fingers was hard but Nami still tried. The reason Luffy was capable of doing so was because Sanji was gagged and bound in the corner, having been knocked out by a relatively well used burst of whatever power Luffy could use. If he hadn't done that, Sanji would probably still be trying to wrestle the 'honor' of doing so out of his captain but Nami was just pleased Luffy was at least able to use his new-found power to at least make jokes.

She shook her finger away from his reach and started reading from her papers. Zoro had arrived right on her wake, but Usopp took a little more time to arrive. He did so huffing and puffing with sweat, his tools haphazardly over his shoulders and it had taken a while for him to take his breathing under control. Now that he had, she was trying to report on her findings.

"So next week there will be a festival to celebrating the capture of the Pirate King?" Zoro summed up.

Nami nodded.

"Yep. And with Marine Vice-Admiral Garp as a guest of honor."

Zoro's and Luffy's reactions where not quite what she expected. While Sanji and Usopp let out quiet exclamations of wonder at the future presence of a legend, Luffy cringed and Zoro scowled.

"Crap." both swore.

"What is it? Vice-Admiral Garp is a legend and he's pretty important, so I don't think he'll be interested in small fries like us..." she said, confused.

"Yeah, he wouldn't if he wasn't by Grandpa..." Luffy said, blowing his breath and making his face look like an inflated balloon.

"WHAT?!"

"Oh, it gets better..." Zoro hinted. Nami couldn't honestly think of how this could get any more messed up, but the swordsman didn't disappoint: "He hired me to bring Luffy back home and instead..."

"You joined him." Nami groaned.

* * *

With expert movements, Sanji jerked the frying pan and sent the vegetables flying into the air. With practiced movements, he gotten back in the utensil and reset it on the fire. The vapors in the cuisine made the room feel as if it was a forest during a monsoon, the way it formed a cloudy mist that obscured the ceiling. The restaurant was bustling with activity. With the upcoming festival, more tourists than ever were coming to Rogue Town and the business there answered by kicking their special features up a notch. In the case of restaurants that meant the Pirate's menus. Usually this would mean competition but today there was a joint effort. This was the most important celebration of Rogue Town, after all. Furthermore, they were responsible for providing to the main table, where Vice-admiral Garp himself would be dinning. The place was frenetic in preparation and all the restaurants in the city had gathered together under one banner and the Mayor's directions – the boss.

"Martin, give me Roger's Sauce."

"Sure thing."

"Mina, take care – look out! Whoa, that was close. Send it to table four."

It could be overwhelming to a new cook or apprentice, the way orders and banter were exchanged in the middle of all the activity in the kitchen, but Sanji was far from inexperienced and, in any case, he could hardly consider himself intimidated by his boss. Sure the man had presence but he was no Red Leg and frankly anyone who couldn't break the mast of a ship with a kick had no chance of inducing true fear on him.

"Sanji! Give your stuff to Chris and get to the boss' office."

"Of course, head cook!"

As he made his way to the office, Sanji felt slightly giddy in anticipation. He had a good inkling of what this was all about. All the other cooks had been summoned and all but two had been assigned jobs in the celebration itself. The other two would be taking the food to the Old Yeller and the Warship that had come with Garp's flagship. Which, from Nami-chan's notes, only left another ship.

Sanji knocked softly on the door and waited for the acknowledgment.

"Enter."

"You wanted to see me, boss?"

"Ah, yes. Sanji, wasn't it?"

"Yes, sir, boss. Is something wrong? Was there a problem with the Shrimp Gumbo?"

There was nothing wrong with the dish and Sanji knew it. However, the question served its purpose in making him appear as a fearful, subservient subordinate who _really_ didn't want to lose his job.

"No! Of course not, my boy. I just wanted to talk to you about your assignment for the festival."

The Mayor of Rogue Town was a fat lumber of lard, whose only worry seemed to be how to milk the city of every penny he could. He'd seen the lots of him when they visited Baratie, always trying to show off their importance and wealth. It was hard for Sanji to be in the man's presence because he always felt the overwhelming urge to beat the crap out of him but he endured and plastered a pleased smile on his face.

"Great! I've been looking forward to the festival."

The boss' smile faltered a bit.

"Err... right. You've been assigned to the Intrepid. Be sure to take our special menu there for dinner."

It was curious how he just kept talking faster, as if he doing that would make the disappointment easier to bear.

"What?" Sanji answered, making sure to sound dismayed, "But..."

"Sanji, my boy. You're a good cook. You really are. All the other chefs agree. But you _are_ the newest addition to the staff." the man answered in a reasonable tone, "there's seniority to take into account here. Just do your job well and you'll join the others in the festivities in no time."

Sanji made a point of staying silent for a moment before agreeing dejectedly, "Yeah, boss. Sure thing."

"Good boy. Now keep up the good work."

Turning to exit the room, Sanji couldn't help the smirk of victory that jumped to his face. Phase two successful.

* * *

Yes. The color was right. A deep green. Just as it should.

It was tricky keeping it liquid. It had to be kept on ice or else it would turn into vapor just from the ambient temperature. It made it difficult to mix with the strengthening solution. He had to keep the receiving reservoir on a block of ice and quickly pour the two contents into it and hope for the best. Sometimes it mixed well, other times it didn't. If it did, he would end up with enough soporific to make at least 30 doses. If it didn't, he would have to start over. It was quite a tedious process, as even the slightest mistake could send the entire endeavor to failure and force him to start anew.

Usopp lifted the recipient from the ice and, with trembling hands from the continuous effort, poured the last dose into the hollow ball that made up the bullets he used with his sling-shot. He'd reinforced the rubber bands on the weapon but he would surely have to refit it once they managed to leave town.

The appointed sharpshooter to the Straw Hat crew sighed heavily and started to place the bullets in the special holders he'd furnished for that purpose. He was sick of the this town. When they'd first decided to visit the hometown of Gold Roger, Usopp had been ecstatic to know he'd be able to visit the famous execution stand but after what happened he just couldn't muster the will to do it. Everyone had been affected, Luffy more than all the others, but their defeat hit Usopp especially hard because he felt he hadn't contributed anything to the cause. He hadn't even be able to pull Sanji out of the water and ended up being the first to lose consciousness. He'd been useless. Even now the others were doing important work and he was stuck making toy projectiles.

"Yo!"

"Gah!"

The whole glass apparatus he'd been using trembled precariously but Usopp managed to keep it from smashing into the ground. With his heart thumping in his ears, he turned around to Luffy's grinning face, a few inches from him.

"Luffy! You almost made me drop this whole stuff!"

"Oh, is it dangerous?"

"It would put us to sleep for more than ten hours!"

"At least we'd be well rested." he laughed, "Any chance we can use it on Nami?"

"No." Usopp answered flatly, "I value my own life. Luffy, shouldn't you be resting for tonight?"

"So should you, Usopp."

"But I had to finish this. And I won't have anything to do later." he finished, not managing to keep the disenchantment out of his voice.

Which Luffy apparently caught on to.

"Is there something wrong, Usopp?"

A part of Usopp, the part that still lived back in his village and ran around with the smaller kids raising trouble, wanted to boast that nothing was wrong, that there was nothing that could possibly bring him down. But a larger part of him couldn't shake the feeling of _uselessness._

"No, I- It's just that... Luffy why did you let me join the crew?"

The other blinked as if he hadn't expected or understood the question.

"What are you talking about?" Luffy asked, "You asked to join."

"I know." Usopp pressed, feeling it was important to them, to _him_, to get to the bottom of this, "But what for? I mean I get Sanji, he's the cook and he handles himself well in a fight. And I get Nami, she's the navigator and did you see what she did three nights ago?!" he asked rhetorically, starting to ramble, "And of course Zoro's your go to man, your right hand and he's pretty powerful... But what about me? I'm useless!" he concluded, finally giving voice to his doubts.

Luffy stood a moment in silence watching him with a sharpness that sometimes showed in his mannerisms and that was often overlooked under his happy go lucky attitude.

"Usopp, don't be stupid."

"Wha-"

"I let you in on the crew because you wanted to join, it's as simple as that. You think I recruited each of us with a specific role in mind? No. If anything it was the complete opposite, with the exception of Sanji. I had decided to recruit each of you long before I knew what you were capable of. And don't give me that useless crap: you're our sharpshooter. You can bulls-eye a seagull almost a mile away with that overpowered slingshot of yours. None of the others can do that and I certainly can't. So what if you aren't suited to go into the fray like Zoro or Sanji? Your job will be to support us from a distance, keeping the enemies from overwhelming us, snipping them before they have a chance to get close, spreading panic among their lines. Yours is the role of the ghost, the silent hero that no one sees but everyone knows is there. And you know what? What if you aren't strong? What's stopping you from becoming strong? Train and train and train and train. Have you seen the crazy stuff Zoro does when he' training? You think he got strong overnight? No! It took time and effort. So if you want to get strong, train and get better. Tonight, you'll be stationed atop the houses next to the harbor. Your mission will be to snipe and put to sleep the guards outside once we get to the boat. Clear a way for Nami and join us. We are a crew, we are a team. Every member is important. Get that through your head. CAN YOU DO THAT CREWMAN?!"

"YES SIR!" Usopp yelped, surprised by the outburst.

"Great!" and all the seriousness was erased from Luffy's face, once again playful. "Now let's get some rest."

* * *

The mercenaries guarding the Old Yeller waited, while they spied the figure awkwardly making its way to them. With the festival ongoing, most of the troops were sequestered at the towns main plaza, right where the execution stand stood, to listen to a speech from Vice-admiral Garp. Because there was so many people, the Navy didn't have enough people to guard all the areas and so the ships were left in the care of mercenaries and a few guards. The guards stayed inside, the mercenaries outside. It was a simple arrangement but it worked relatively well. And it wasn't as if anyone was dumb enough to try and steal a marine ship, anyway.

The figure turned out to be a cook carrying a ridiculously large saucepot that almost made the blond youth carrying it look as if he were a wizard with his large cauldron. The pot was closed and the young man held it with the help of pieces of cloth to protect him from the heat. It must have been really well sealed too, as they couldn't see the tiniest bit of vapor coming out of it. Which wasn't really surprising, considering the bad lighting of the place. He turned once he got to the clearing that preceded the docks, something they were expecting, since their ship had already been provided with food. The present 'shipment' was probably designated for the poor saps guarding the Intrepid.

The Intrepid was an interceptor class ship. It was easily the fastest of the three marine ships currently stationed at Rogue Town, but it wasn't particularly outstanding. There were rumors of true marvels of technology built by some mad genius called Vegapunk that put ships like the Intrepid to shame. Those were reserved for the Grand Line though. The most important of all ships was undoubtedly the flagship of the vice-admiral, followed by the warship. So the meager Intrepid had been left with a rather skeleton guard, relegated to second class ship.

The cook was met halfway by another mercenary, a dreary, grumpy fellow that fancied himself a swordsman. No one truly knew each other, all of them having signed in during the recruiting stage, three days before, but that fellow hadn't even graced them with a name. He didn't talk much and he was somewhat hostile, so most of the others left him to his own devices, more worried about their beers and rum than the bad mood of a stranger. His mood would no doubt be hellish right about know, given how much more time he and his mates had had to wait for the food than the others. It was-

Whatever thoughts the guards stationed outside the ships were entertaining remained unfinished as a few pops announced the rupture of balls of sleeping drug near their feet. As they lost consciousness, their last thoughts were a confused "What the hell?"

It was a good ship, Sanji decided as he walked across the deck into the castle of the Intrepid, where Zoro had told him the marines were. Usopp would have taken care of the other guards by now so the swordsman was likely binding and gagging the sleeping hapless mercenaries outside, probably dumping them into the garbage cans. Knocking on the door he waited for the acknowledgment of those inside.

"What is it?" the voice was gruff and seemed in a bad mood.

"Dinner!" Sanji announced cheerfully, "With compliments from the chefs at Roger's Feast!"

There were some shouts of "Finally!" and "About time!" and the door opened to reveal a small kitchen with a table where the four guards had been waiting for the meal. Rather unprofessional of them, in Sanji' opinion, but that only made it much easier.

"Come on in, put it on the table." invited one of the marines.

Sanji did just that then backed down a few steps, as the hungry marines gathered around the large pot.

"Now let's see..."

The impatient marines found themselves more than a meal, that night, as they opened the pot and, instead of a nice stew, they were met with a fist to the face, while Luffy unleashed a Rubber Gatling Gun on them. Along with Sanji's leg, the last guards were down in less than two minutes.

"So far, so good." Luffy commented as they bound the guards.

"Don't jinx it!" Sanji jokingly cautioned.

They returned to the deck, each carrying two guards and were met with the rest of the crew, Nami and Usopp having just joined them. On the distance, Sanji could still see the mercenaries sleeping, next to the other ships.

"You make good sleeping pills, Usopp!" Luffy commented to the sharpshooter.

"Come on, I'll take them." Zoro urged Luffy, "Shitty Cook, here, come along. Captain, with your permission, we have to raise the anchor and set the sails. We need to leave quickly."

Sanji, for once, ignored the jibe and hurried down the ramp to deposit the unconscious guards in a dark corner of the docks. Luffy turned to Nami and Usopp.

"You heard the man: let's move!"

Nami was already in movement, checking the rudder and the sails.

"Usopp, raise the anchor; Luffy, the sails." As Sanji and Zoro returned she issued them their commands as well, "Zoro, help the Captain, Sanji cover the lights, we don't want to be seen heading out."

"Roger!"

"Anything for my Nami-chan!"

"There is a good wind. Let's make the most of it. And somebody take down that World Government flag!" Luffy ordered.

Slowly at first, but with increasing speed, the Intrepid moved away from the docks and set sail to the deep waters, all but unnoticed. When the marines returned the following day, the only thing left besides the empty space was a note, left in provocative style, left surreptitiously by Luffy, while Nami wasn't seeing.

_Thanks for the ship. So long, suckers!_

_Sincerely, the Straw Hat crew._

* * *

"Dragon? Is everything alright?"

Monkey D. Dragon, still clad in his ever present cloak, turned away from the sight of the burning ship he had stolen from his own son to stare at his subordinate.

"Everything is fine." he replied dryly. 'I hope you can forgive me, Luffy. Perhaps one day you'll understand...'

* * *

**A/N.: Another chapter done. First Major deviation from cannon, in my opinion. ****The idea for introducing Haki early comes from ****Capito Celcior. Where ever he is, I hope he's still reading, although I don't think this was quite what he had in mind.**

**Review, if you think it worth the time and effort. As always I apologize for the mistakes.  
**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter V

A soft knock from the door had Luffy lifting his head from his work and staring expectantly at the entrance to his private quarters. The ship they had now, having been dashingly 're-appropriated' from the Marines docked at Rogue Town, was much bigger than their original ship, the Going Merry, had been. It still remained nameless, unfortunately, but they'd all agreed not to christen their new vessel until they'd made some appropriate changes. But more than its size, it had been its contents that had come as a shock to most of the crew. Deep down, everyone knew the Navy was a war asset, always ready to rain hell down on their enemies, but to actually see a brig stock-full of weapons, powder and canon-balls was another thing altogether, especially for someone who'd just come from an innocent small caravel a few days before.

Being the Captain, Luffy was coming to learn, was more than just giving one's face as the head of the crew. There were decisions to be made, decisions that would invariably impact on the welfare of the crew. Such as the way to go or with which to approach a problem. Even the aforementioned task of deciding a course was tricky. Granted, in those situations he usually deferred to Nami and her expertise in navigation to help him choose but it was more than just knowing which way to go. Each day in the Grand Line came with its dangers and although he couldn't very well predict which way would be safest or, god forbid, easiest, he _had_ to take into account a number of variables – such as whether or not their supplies of food and fresh water were enough to see them through to the next port. These were problems the stories never told of and the first times he'd tried they'd had, more often than he'd like, to scavenge for any goods they could get their hands on on every wild island they came across, once they inevitably ran out of sustenance.

Water was always more critical than anything else and now they always made sure to have supplies of fruit as often as humanly possible. Luffy still hadn't forgotten Yosaku, Johny and their scurvy. However, practice made perfect and, because none of them had been aware of the realities of command, they'd cut him some slack and nowadays Luffy hardly made a mistake any more.

"Enter." he invited after a moment, remembering Zoro's insistence that they all show respect for the 'Captain's privacy'. Never mind that he trusted them all with his life or that they'd pretty much been sleeping in the same room back in the Merry.

And that was another difference that had come with the new ship. After they'd settled course to the Grand Line and assured themselves they had not been pursued, the entire crew, to his surprise, had forced him to take the cabin. He'd argued, of course, but Sanji and Usopp had backed the other two, categorically stating that the Captain was cut above the crew and shouldn't have to sleep with the rabble.

Luffy thought they were crazy. Still, it had been unanimous (his own vote having been summarily discarded) so, in the end, he bowed to their wishes.

The door opened to reveal Nami's head, peeking curiously in an effort to find him. Her eyes sparkled approvingly when she spotted him behind the large desk and she smiled. Everyone had been in high spirits since their successful departure from Rogue Town.

Nami was, currently, the only female aboard the ship and, as such, was the only other member of the crew who had gotten a room to herself – although, admittedly, somewhat smaller than his. Everyone had been relieved by that – even though Sanji had protested bitterly for everyone to listen, he'd latter confided in Luffy by admitting that it was only proper for Nami to have her own room.

"_If I ever see Nami-chan's naked beauty, it will be out of her own choosing, not because of circumstances."_ Pervert Cook Sanji may be but he had his own strange code of honour when it came to women, it seemed.

"May I come in?" she asked brightly before adding, almost in afterthought, "Captain." Nami and Usopp still had some difficulties remembering chain of command and Luffy was grateful for it.

"Of course!" he answered in kind, "and you don't have to treat me like that, Nami. When it's just the crew or when we aren't in an 'official business', it's just Luffy." he continued, reciting Zoro's speech from memory.

"But you look so official behind that desk, _Captain_!" she replied, clearly having the time of the day annoying him, "Really, I feel like I should at least stand at attention..."

"Come on in and quit saying nonsense." Luffy exclaimed a little exasperated.

Nami slipped inside and closed the door quietly, balancing a soft looking package, wrapped in an unassuming brown paper that rustled noisily with every move. She approached the desk gingerly, almost tiptoeing, and placed the wrapping in the desk, before peering over and trying to see his work from upside down.

"What're you doing?"

"Reading your testament on the Grand Line." he said jokingly, showing her the stack of pages she'd given him the day before. She'd apparently decided to ignore the package and, after an instant of curiosity, Luffy chose to go with it for the moment.

"Well? What do you think?" she asked, sitting atop the desk and bending towards him, an air of expectation on her face.

"From what I've understood, what you're telling me is that there's no way to actually predict what the weather's going to be next, right?" he asked, skimming over the pages again to remember some points. At her nod he continued, "So basically, all we can do is to keep an eye out and be ready for whatever comes our way, right?"

"Yes. Quick thinking is your best friend in these waters. Which means we have to know the ship better than the palm of our hands, Luffy. We can't hesitate on something because we don't know if the ship can take it or where something is in it." Nami stressed, looking deadly serious.

Luffy scratched his cheek.

"Well..." he hesitated, "I'm not saying you're wrong, but I haven't really seen any sign of the weather here being that impossible to guess."

"You mean apart from the storm that greeted us the moment we left Reverse Mountain? Or the tsunami that sent us to the calm belt?" she retorted somewhat incredulously, "Luffy, we're lucky to be having it this easy. The stories I heard from Arlong made this place a living nightmare!"

"Arlong would hardly be what I call a good source of information." Luffy remarked, scowling slightly, "He was a coward who couldn't feel strong unless he had weak people to oppress. I don't think it's surprising he found Grand Line to be difficult. But you may be right," he allowed slowly, getting up from the chair he'd been sitting in and making his way to the windows behind him, "Don Krieg was also searching for a way to have an easier time in the Grand Line and he'd lost all of his fleet of ships by the time he made it to Sanji's restaurant. He was a stupid and bigoted, but he had a good ship that wouldn't break down easily... Well, before that sword guy cut it up I mean." he added to himself.

Nami shook her head, not understanding the last remark but not willing to waste time on it now that Luffy appeared to be taking her seriously, "All I mean is that we have to make time to _know_ this ship. We should do it next time we find a port, make all the modifications we need and make sure we are as prepared as we can possibly be for all the challenges ahead." she stressed, before continuing softly, "I know you see this as an adventure Luffy – I do too and I'm glad I came with you guys. But I'm not strong like you and I don't want to die on this expedition. The preparations we make can mean the difference between survival or death..."

Luffy turned and looked at her with a disturbingly contemplating look and for a moment Nami was assaulted with the fear of being rejected as part of the crew. Because she was afraid and weak. Then he was next to her and his hands were on her shoulders and their weight swept the doubt away.

"I will _never_ let anything happen to my friends. Ever! I promise: what happened at Rogue Town will never happen again." he vowed, tightening his grip slightly. Then he released her, the warmth from his hands growing fainter and Nami felt a strange sting of disappointment, before it also faded away.

"That said," he continued, looking at her with the look someone who just thought something amazing, "Why don't you ask Sanji and Zoro for help?"

"Sanji and Zoro?" Nami repeated, not expecting the suggestion.

"Well, yeah! I mean, Sanji's fighting style is probably better suited for you, since Zoro only uses swords, but I guess he can at least help you getting stronger!"

"What about you, though?" Nami asked automatically, still somewhat numb by the conversation.

"Well you see, Zoro and Sanji know how to fight. I don't."

"What? Don't be ridiculous, Luffy. You fight the strongest guys and you win every damn time!"

"Well, sure. I know how to beat up guys, by I don't know _how to fight_. I just hit them until they don't get up any more. I don't think this would work for you, Nami."

Nami was forced to admit Luffy might be right. Of course she didn't know what had passed through her head to actually ask him about training her, but that was beside the point. Luffy's way of charging head first into battles only worked for some one who already was strong in their own right, something she was not. On the other hand she was a bit weary of approaching Zoro and Sanji on the topic.

"I'll talk to the guys today during dinner." Luffy promised, almost as if he'd read her thoughts. "But I have a more serious problem, right now." he said seriously, before pointing to the package and asking, "What is that?"

Nami's face immediately brightened up, her eyes lighting with an excited smile, "Oh, I'm glad you asked that!" she exclaimed, looking almost like a child in her glee, "I got you a present in Rogue Town. Consider it my thanks for helping me out with Arlong!"

Nami took the package in her hands and hesitated, suddenly feeling shy about handing him the present. With a deep breath, she thrust the wrapped gift into his hands.

"Nami, I helped you because you're a friend, not to receive any kind of payment." Luffy said solemnly, nonetheless accepting the gift and starting to unwrap it with uncharacteristic carefulness.

"I know. But I wanted to get you something back- just accept it, please!" she exclaimed when it looked he was about to interject again.

"Of course I do! Thanks, Nami!" he said, ripping the remainder of the paper and revealing a magnificent double-breasted overcoat "Whoa!"

"Do you like it?" she asked with anticipation.

"It's great!" he answered. And it was. It was reminiscent of the overcoats used by naval officers but, instead of the issued white colour used by all officer of the Marines, it was dark blue, so dark it was almost black and only by looking closely could one notice the difference. Instead of buttons it had wooden, neatly treated clasps that fit into thick loops of fabric and kept the coat safely closed even in the harshest winds. A line of red followed the arms and waved around the shoulder pads, reinforced with tanned leather, giving the overall coat a sturdier look. The cuff-links were made of metal, polished to look like silver although, to Nami's sorrow, she didn't have the money to afford actual silver adornments. "I love it."

Apparently it was the right thing to say, judging from the way Nami's face almost split from the grin that erupted in her face.

"Great! I thought, since you're our Captain, you should have something befitting your position, so that everyone would know right away what you are in the crew," she babbled, "It couldn't be a hat, because I think yours is pretty iconic and you wouldn't part with it anyway, so I settled for a coat – here, let me help."

And without waiting for an answer she danced around him, pulling where needed and helping Luffy fit into the piece of clothing, all the while not stopping in her explanation.

"It's a little big since I wasn't sure of your measurements, but it's better that way because it'll fit you longer than if it was smug. And look, look," she said, dragging him to the wardrobe and opening it to reveal a full size mirror that returned his coated image to them, "Its designed so you can lift the collar, see? This way you're protected from the wind and the rain, or the water from the waves..."

Luffy was reaching one life-changing conclusion: Women were scary things when talking about clothes. He was considering the best way to escape the glint that had been entering Nami's eyes when, without warning, the whole ship shook as if hit by a powerful punch and the air rumbled with an unexpected thunder.

Luffy reacted quickly, catching Nami before she fell and, after making sure the girl was all right, made his way to the door. His quarters were situated on the upper part of the castle and so opened right to the open air. The sight that greeted him outside was humbling. Where there had been calm seas and clear skies just moments before were now a collection of unruly demons determined to wreck havoc on any ship that dared sail through them. Or at least that was the impression it gave. The sky was full of low, oppressive dark clouds connected by ethereal squiggly lines of light every time there was a thunderbolt. The seas waved and rolled and the water threw itself against the ship, as if trying to make it roll on its side. As he watched, he noticed the a curtain of heavy rain fast approaching and, just as he made it to the balustrade that oversaw the main deck, it hit them with all its might. Luffy looked down just in time to see the door to the crew quarter's open, a level bellow, and witness as Zoro, Sanji and Usopp ran outside seeking the source of the disturbance, the latter instantly slipping in the wet floor and settling for curling himself on the ground once he realized the grim conditions they were facing. Looking back, he spotted Nami at the entrance to his room, looking at the weather with wide, frightened look, before catching his eyes and straightening almost reflexively. He watched as her chin set into a defiant position and she nodded to him, as if acknowledging some unspoken message and stepped into the fray.

Luffy faced the storm and quickly made his way down the stairs and into the deck, where Zoro and Sanji had stopped, a bit dazed by the violence of the elements.

"Zoro, Sanji, stop gawking around and lift the sails: we can't have them rip on us. NOW!" he shouted when they failed to act and instead turned to him in surprise. As they made their way to the nearest sails, Luffy quickly walked to Usopp and, grabbing his arm, pulled him up and shoved him in the direction of the masts, "You too Usopp, quickly!" he urged when the other turned amazed eyes on him.

Luffy went around, giving encouragements and helping where necessary. Suddenly, in the midst of all the turmoil, he spotted Nami, who seemed to be struggling hopelessly against the steering wheel of the rudder.

He took a step forward, braving against the wind and rain and gritting his teeth started to shout, almost in defiance to the sea that was so testing them.

"Take a deep breath! Trust yourselves! Don't let this tiny breeze faze you!" he started as he marched to the stairs almost angrily, his entire stance almost screaming how little he cared for the weather at the moment, "So what if it throws water our way, well take it like the men and women we are and go our way! Laughing and cleaner than before!" he took a step up the stairs, "Don Krieg! Arlong! Buggy! All of them were lauded as dangerous and powerful pirates! And yet Buggy demeaned himself into a petty criminal, Don Krieg lost his entire fleet to this sea and had to go back, with his tail between the legs, to try and rob the secret to survive in this place from someone worthier than him! And Arlong, Arlong cowered in fear of the hardships he faced here, hid in West Blue and covered his fear by terrorizing civilians." he took the wheel in his hands and with a grunt forced it to turn in the way Nami was trying to move it, "And I say: let those scallywags, cower. Let them speak of fate and death and fear. I will not do so. We will not do so! We're not doomed to sail this sea; this sea is doomed to have us sailing on it! We're the Strawhat Pirates, we'll become the greatest there is in the whole world and no one, much less a pitiful little storm like this is going to keep us from doing it!" With a thrust, Luffy lifted his hand to the skies, his fist closed in a punching motion and his coat flapping around him and finished, "Now let's show this miserable little sea who's in charge!"

And Nami watched, with marvelled eyes, as Luffy morphed into a captain of legend, even if only for a few moments, his overcoat flailing impressively in the wind, and his three other subordinates answered his demand with the strength and noise of a fully manned crew.

* * *

"So Nami was talking to me, earlier today, and said she was interested in learning how to fight." Luffy started bluntly, and surprising said girl into a mute embarrassment. She had thought for sure he had forgotten it, with the storm they'd had in the meantime. Her gift to Luffy had caused a stir in the crew with everyone seeming to approve and with Zoro once again puffing his chest like _he_ had been the one to think of the present and buying the damn thing, much to Nami's annoyance, "And I was thinking, maybe you guys could help her out with that."

There was a stunned silence in which Nami wished for nothing more than to sink into the ground itself before Zoro turned to her with a speculative face and Sanji lit up in a perverted grin that made her scowl reflexively to her plate. Usopp shifted uncomfortably.

"She is rather weak." Zoro stated in his blunt and rough way. She'd been learning not to take the way he said things as an injury. If Zoro wanted to insult you in any way, he made sure you had no doubts regarding the nature of his barbs, "But if we build up her speed and stamina, she'd have the potential to do some serious damage."

"I doubt I can punch people through a wall, training or not." Nami said, managing to speak and giving a rather self-deprecating smile.

"'Course not." acknowledged the swordsman, and Nami was left unsure on whether or not to take offence that he'd agreed with her so quickly, "But you have the frame for fast, focused attacks." he shifted into a more comfortable position and motioned for Sanji to pour him more grog. "This is actually something that has been bothering me. Looking at us we have Sanji and I, who can deal powerful blows in one go. Then there's the Captain, who can deal more damage than the two of us put together. We're a team of heavy hitters and we're handicapped because we're overly specialized. Getting you," he said, focusing on Nami, "to concentrate on dealing fast, crippling attacks makes you a major asset in both dispatching weaker enemies that might aid the stronger opponents and in providing support for us if we are ever in need. Usopp too, I think."

"Ooh! Do tell!" Luffy urged with a sharp glint in his eyes.

"Well first we have to get him a better ranged weapon than the ridiculous slingshot he carries." Sanji stated, cutting Zoro's speech before he could even begin and earning a look of disgust from the later, "I kind of like on how silent it is but let's be honest: its firing power is useless in anything but point-blank range. I'm not saying he has to quit on using those types of weapons but at least make it more powerful. Then we just place him on high ground and have him snipe enemies off their feet. Also," he added as if struck by a sudden thought, "if we manage to get some snail-dials, Usopp could even provide updates on the battlefield for our strategic planing."

Usopp sagged in his chair apparently relieved at not being included in Nami's training.

"Of course," Sanji continued cheerfully, "although I think training him in any kind of specific hand-to-hand combat might not be necessary, some physical conditioning can only do him good, so I think I'll oversee that while Zoro brings Nami-chan up to speed. Then, when he judges her ready, I can give her some one-on-one lessons on more personal encounters." he finished by waggling his eyebrows.

Nami ignored him.

"Don't I get any say in this?" Usopp asked indignantly.

"No." answered Zoro and Sanji at the same time, much to the amusement of Luffy.

"I don't want to fight! And I hate exercise!" the younger teenager complained bitterly.

"Then what the hell are you doing in a Pirate ship?" Zoro asked rudely.

"Zoro..." Luffy said, in warning.

"No, Captain. This HAS to be addressed." the First Mate insisted, "what exactly do you think being a pirate means, huh?" he demanded of Usopp, only to continued when he failed to provide an answer, "Do you think this is a fairy tale, a child's play with no consequences? We are criminals. We are wanted by the World Government. Because we are criminals, instances where we can rest safely and legally will be few and far between. We will live in the underworld – if we want to survive we'll have to thrive in it. And you think you can get through it al without lifting a finger, without fighting? Or are you planning on dragging others down with your weight, clinging to them for protection because you don't want to be physically uncomfortable?"

Usopp didn't answer, instead opting to engage in a staring contest with the swordsman – which he ultimately lost, when the man once again demanded an answer of him:

"Well?"

The sharpshooter avoided the green haired stared and stood sullenly in silent for a few moments, before mumbling something.

"I couldn't hear you."

"I said fine!" he shouted, getting up and leaving the room.

Nami hesitated and, after a nod from Luffy, followed after him.

"Was that really necessary, Zoro?"

"Yes, Captain." Zoro stated categorically, "if doesn't start taking this seriously now, he's going to die sooner or later. Or get one of us dead which would be worse. He's still convinced this is some kid's trip. It's not and if you want to pamper to him and pretend everything's going to be easy then I'm not on the right ship. What's going to be, Luffy?"

As he spoke, a slow flow of killing intent started to rise from the swordsman until, with his last remark, he got up and almost gave the feeling of truly being the monster he sometimes was accused of being. Luffy looked at him from under unimpressed eyebrows, before lashing out with an attack of Haki that quickly overwhelmed the other's life force. This result actually seemed to satisfy the swordsman.

Sanji shook his head, unwilling to understand why the Pirate Hunter felt the need to challenge Luffy at unexpected moments, almost as if wanting to reassure himself of the other's superiority.

"Of course he needs to take stuff seriously. But I don't want the fun we have to be drowned in rules and rigidity. That was never this crew's spirit." Luffy pointed out.

"I agree." Sanji cut in, "But I also agree with the seaweed over there." he added, dodging a metal cup thrown by the swordsman, "discipline and commitment are necessary components of any group effort. The Old Man loved us back at the restaurant and he wanted us happy, but that didn't keep him from demanding everything we had when we had to give our all."

"The same with my Dojo." states Zoro.

"Of course this is only when necessary," Sanji allowed, "but for that we have to commit to training, otherwise when we really need it, we won't be able to put all our potential into a fight. That's what I meant when I said I agreed. And honestly, Luffy, I know you don't like to hear it since he's the closest to you in age and all, but Usopp could use some discipline."

"He didn't exactly have parents to give him that." Luffy pointed out, "Hell, for that matter, neither did I."

"True." Sanji agreed, "But you naturally know you have to put effort into what you do. Usopp just doesn't work the same way. Besides, as surrogate family, it's our job to teach him what he needs, don't you think so?"

Luffy thought for a few moments and had to admit that Sanji's reasoning seemed sound.

"Fine. But Sanji?" he said, calling the other's attention. "Nami's serious about this. I hope you extend her the same courtesy."

Sanji nodded solemnly, "Of course, Captain."

* * *

Nami opened the door to Zoro's selected quarters with a sense of trepidation. When Luffy made a decision to take her words seriously, he immediately saw that the swordsman and the cook had their selected pick from the available rooms in the ship – his own quarters included. Sanji had decided that his training didn't require a room and "could very well be done on the main deck, thank you very much." Zoro, however, was quick to select a large room next to the stairs leading to the cargo hold, deep in the belly of the ship. When she entered, she noticed how the room seemed remarkably clean, even going as far as giving the impression of having been meticulously scrubbed and waxed. On the floor, in the centre of the room, was a sail, torn in one of the latest storms, extended to the maximum as to not having any ripples, and bolted to the floor with the same scrupulosity the room had been cleaned with. Zoro was waiting in the farthest side of the room, sitting over his legs and with his eyes closed.

When she approached he started speaking without actually lifting his eyelids to look at her.

"Sit." he ordered.

Rather mystified with the way the whole thing had been going so far, Nami did so, unconsciously mimicking the Pirate Hunter's pose.

"Good." he approved, "From now on, whenever we're in a session, not doing exercises and for as long as I am your teacher, this will be the position you'll sit in."

Nami nodded to herself and wondered how the hell he'd known what she'd done when he wasn't even with his eyes opened. But Zoro continued.

"You've decided to improve yourself physically and contribute to the more... confrontational aspect of this crew. While, as the First Mate, I approve and pleased by this decision, as your instructor I must tell you that it is much more important to be comfortable with yourself than what others perceive as being the right choice. If at any point you become uncomfortable or dissatisfied with what I have you doing, I'd rather you tell me you don't want to continue rather than keep wasting both our times. I will not teach an unwilling student. Am I clear?" he asked, this time opening his eyes to stare at her fixedly.

Nami set her mouth into a fine line and nodded her acceptance.

"Good. You will not be trained in the ways of the sword. However, you will be required to reach a similar level of physical conditioning as the practitioners of the sword arts. Fr this, we will engage in a series of physical challenges, repeated and added upon in the course of the next few months until I feel you are ready to start more focused exercises. I expect your diligence and commitment and will not accept either excuses or vows of success. If you want to prove something to me, do so by actions rather than words, understood?"

"Yes, Zoro." Nami growled, starting to feel uncomfortable with the position she was sitting in.

Zoro stared at her for a moment, "During these sections, you will address me as Sensei. The right to call me by name must be earned through your efforts in improving yourself. Understood?"

"Yes, Sensei." Nami corrected.

"Good. These sessions will take place every time we are fortunate enough to find a safe port to dock in, for every day we stay ashore. The exception will be made on every last day in a port, as the Captain has expressed the wish that both you and Usopp be given the opportunity to rest completely before venturing out to the sea." Nami felt a rush of gratitude for Luffy at that, "Today we will start with a series of light exercises. These will ease your way into the more demanding exercises, to be added at later sessions. Now," with surprising grace for such a blunt person, Zoro hoisted himself up and motioned for Nami to do the same, "you've already proved to have some proficiency in flexibility and agility exercises. However, it is very different to achieve success in these when one is tired or otherwise under duress. No doubt your years as the 'Burglar Cat' have given you some measure of confidence in your abilities." he paused before smiling darkly at her, "I will now destroy those illusions of yours."

And that he did. The exercises started with deceptive simplicity and harmlessness, simple movements: warming up exercises, stretching her arms above her head, slowly rotating them until they were extended to the side, then flexing them until her hands touched her chest and raising them again; Running around the room at a steady, even pace; Squatting slowly, holding the position for a few seconds, then assuming an upright stance once again. All simple exercises that left her dead after that first day.

Still with stubborn determination, she went back again and again, even as the exercises got increasingly more demanding. Many times, as she laid in bed, exhausted and incapable even of sleeping, she thought about quitting, about just admitting she couldn't do it. But then her mind would trace back to the day where Luffy had first worn her overcoat, to the silent promise she'd made to get better, to not be a burden, and she'd present herself again at the next session as if she'd never wavered in her commitment since the last time she'd been there. Which, apparently, was more than what could be said of Usopp. The young man had actually missed the second session with Sanji and had been completely unprepared for the chasing and subsequently dressing down the cook had delivered to him. While inwardly feeling sorry for him, Nami also privately thought that, up until then, Usopp hadn't quite grasped the seriousness of the situation he was in. It took a few days of tumultuous rebellion and the combined efforts of both Sanji and Zoro to bring the situation to manageable levels.

It was Luffy, however, that proved to be instrumental in finally convincing the other boy into being serious with his training, by recounting the horrors and suffering he felt at his grandfather's hands and providing a commiserating soul with which Usopp could count on. Nami wasn't sure if that had been purposefully planned by the Strawhat Captain or not, but she was learning that Luffy was much more perceptive, in certain things, than anyone gave him credit for. However, listening to him recounting stories of his own training sessions begged a question that had been in Nami's mind since that first night in the kitchen, when they'd decided to train her.

Zoro had described them has heavy hitters and almost every day you could see Sanji exercising his skills in between meals or whenever he had free-time, practising his personal moves on the main deck, while Zoro slept and Luffy and Usopp fooled around. As for the swordsman, he could be found every morning lifting ridiculously heavy weights and honing his skills with the blade. But she never saw Luffy training. One day, during her sessions with Zoro, she'd asked the Pirate Hunter about this detail.

Zoro had given her one look and told her, "If you're thinking that he can do all the damage he does without training you can disillusion yourself. The Captain is the one that trains the most out of all of us. He just does it at night."

Nami was baffled.

"But why not do it during the day, like yourselves." she insisted, meaning both him and Sanji.

"For the specific you'd have to ask him. I'm not privy to them, and even if I were, I wouldn't break his confidence. But I can tell you that one of the reasons is that he's the Captain."

Zoro didn't elaborate any more, but Nami couldn't understand for the life of her why the swordsman seemed to think that was all the explanation necessary.

* * *

**A/N.: Another update. I'm enjoying writing this story – even having so little time for it. Sorry for the possible mistakes, this was not proof-read at all. So Nami decides to have some PE and somehow that ropes Usopp into it as well. He's not pleased.**

**I hope I managed to convey some of Zoro's character in this story. I'm not going to elaborate here, but I hope I manage to completely portray him in his future interactions. Although defining a character through the way he acts rather than stamping it in the story as the Narrator is hard stuff. My respect for good writers as been steadily climbing over the years since I joined FFN. I hope one day I become like them.**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter VI

"Thanks, Captain, you can let us off here."

Luffy looked at the inhospitable dunes that extended past the shore. Apart from sand, only the odd, twisted cactus could be seen, every now and then.

"Are you sure about this, Zoro?" he asked.

Zoro nodded and Nami tried to hide the dismay that flashed on her face. And failed judging from the smirk Luffy gave her.

"Hmm... this might not be such a bad idea..." Sanji mumbled with a critical expression and, from the corner of her eye, she saw Usopp start sweating bullets, "But... no, I don't think Usopp can do it. Yet."

"I don't think _I_ can do it!" Nami blurted in a slightly squeaky voice.

"Of course you can." Zoro scowled. "And if you can't, we'll just have to repeat it until you do."

Luffy nodded as if it all made sense and Nami was assaulted by the urge to hit him.

"Come on!"

With trembling movements, Nami followed Sanji and Zoro to the small dingy and waited, while Luffy and Usopp worked the ropes and started lowering the small boat to the water bellow. From there to the shore were just a few minutes of Sanji rowing and, suddenly, they were alone in the sand and Sanji was going back and their ship was turning with the wind and leaving her behind and... her heart constricted as if she'd been marooned to die on a deserted island.

d

It had all started when she'd informed Luffy that, from Buggy's map, it seemed they would be arriving at a port on the next island.

"The place is called Whiskey Peak." she'd informed him, "And the town is called... Welcome Town?... Ridiculous name... It's some sort of hotspot, kind of an advertising for the countries of the World Government in the Grand Line."

They'd all been looking forward to rest for a few days in a proper port, rather than on the shores of some deserted small island, as was usually the case. A proper immersion bath, a soft feathery bed, it all sounded like heaven to Nami... Except Zoro had gotten in his head that it was an excellent idea for Luffy to leave her with him a few kilometers from the actual town so that they could "work on her speed and endurance under adverse conditions".

For the first time since she remembered, Nami had cursed fluently into her pillow, that night, promising future pains for the sadistic bastard of a swordsman. And, to a lesser extend, to Luffy for agreeing with it. But she was not going to back down. Oh, no, if they thought she'd balk at the challenge they were out of their minds. She'd show them. She'd show them all.

d

Bravado, Nami had found, came much more naturally when you're talking to your pillow than when you're stranded in the middle of a desert with giant cacti and crazy swordsmen for partners. The smoldering heat had her sweating like a pig within minutes of arriving and had hopelessly soaked her shirt's collar in seconds, making clothes stick to her body uncomfortably and restricting her movements.

Zoro, of course, was behaving like he was on a resort of some kind, the only protection he'd deigned to acknowledge the desert with being the bandanna now wrapped around his head. With a crisp movement, as if making a sudden, decision, he said, "Alright. Let's get moving. We only have one liter of water and the objective is miles away. It won't do to dillydally."

Nami sent him a withering glare, to rival the desert's heat, and spat, "I _hate_ you."

The Pirate Hunter turned a ferocious grin on her and said, "_Good_. Grasp that feeling. Channel that hate. It makes you powerful, gives you focus. Now let's go."

* * *

Luffy couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. There was this undercurrent of danger that just couldn't let him do more than taking small sips of water and nibble on the plate he had balanced on his knee, even as Sanji and Usopp immersed themselves in the party going on on the small, and only, inn they'd found in the town.

Who the hell gives a party just because a ship parks by the beach? There was his hometown, sure, but the people there had known Shanks for ages and that particular pirate crew had been pretty much like family for as long as Luffy could remember, even if it was the hometown of one of the most notorious marine officers of all time, his grandfather Garp. But if someone other than the Red-haired Pirates made port they'd be given the same indifferent treatment as everywhere else, and gods forbid some other pirates try to claim the place for themselves. But throwing a party for complete strangers? Wasting good meat on people no one knew? Bullshit!

The fact that his mind was constantly turning back to Zoro and Nami wasn't helping either. He couldn't quite explain it but it hadn't felt right to leave them like that, in the middle of the desert. What if they ran into trouble on the way to the town? What if Zoro got hurt and couldn't help Nami? What if it was the other way around? He wasn't worried about Usopp and Sanji, because they where here, within his reach – who knows what would happen if they were left alone as well. A part of him rebelled against these sentiments. He'd become a pirate to be free and yet here he was, being dragged down, chained by these feelings. But the stronger – strongest - part didn't allow him to listen to that narcissistic voice – because his crew was family, and you didn't abandon family. Family was sacred.

So he continued sipping and nibbling, contrary to what was customary, never allowing himself to become immersed in all the eating and drinking, keeping an eye on the members of his family that were here with him, while waiting for the return of the remainder of his people.

"Hey, little master, is there something not to your liking?"

It was one of the owners of the inn. She was leaning towards fat and the white on her hair showed that she wasn't as young as her clothes attempted her to seem. In her arms, she carried a bottle, the tip of which she waved in his direction.

"Try this one, its the specialty of the house!"

They'd been insisting for him to try that particular spirit for a while now, and he had to admit he was getting curious at their constant prodding. So he extended his cup and accepted the fill the woman graced him with. Ignoring her speech on the qualities of the drink he approached the cup to his nose and smelled. Hmm... red wine with honey and a few spices added in – not too different from the mead from back home – and a touch of a bittersweet scent that spoke of... Oh. Ooh! Luffy smiled inwardly. So this is what they where going for, huh? The poor bastards. They'd chosen well. He'd assumed the plant had only grown back in West Blue, but it seems he'd been wrong. Either that or they'd been imported. Whatever the case it was obvious these idiots had no idea how to use the stuff. Oh well... he'd have to educate them.

For the next two hours he kept chugging drink after drink, watching in sadistic amusement as the faces of the people around him changed and got more and more confused and fretful. Usopp was down for the count since earlier in the evening and Sanji had followed not long after, both having almost literally drowned themselves in wine and other spirits. Luffy had no doubt Sanji would be up with the sun, the following day. The cook had a remarkable capacity to recover from alcohol poisoning, but Usopp was a different story altogether. He'd probably need to be watched over in order to keep safe.

"I really like this drink." Luffy remarked casually to the next person to serve him.

There was a flash of nervousness and a wobbly smile, "Oh, thank you sir. Perhaps you'd care for another fill?"

Luffy nodded, "Sure, sure." only to continue after the glass was full, "I know something on spices and I'm really amazed by what you've achieved with this." He said ponderously. Then he bent forward and, taking a few dried leaves of the plant he'd shown Nami almost two months before and, waving them, said, "It only works if they're fresh, you know?"

The noise in the room stopped as if by magic.

* * *

Nami huffed and puffed as she struggled to follow Zoro up and down the sandy hills. She felt sticky and uncomfortably hot but the green haired man showed no signs of discomfort and had kept the same wrenching pace through the entire way. It was, by her calculations, close to midday when Zoro finally decided to make a brief pause and allow her to try and regain some of her energy. Which wasn't much because there were no shades in sight and the ground was hardly what you'd call comfortable. It was only by strategically positioning that she was able to use a dune as a source of reprieve from the unforgiving sun they'd labored under for most of the morning. They were roughly half way there and the thought did nothing to lift her spirits.

They'd been sitting for ten minutes, she'd wager, when a soft, inconstant noise reached their ears. Zoro straightened and motioned for her to be quiet. Then, cautiously, he started climbing the dune, shifting the sun silently until he reached the top. Nami followed, somewhat more clumsily but still stealthily enough.

On the other side, down bellow, were a pair of men who, from the looks of things, had just exited from a hole in the ground. Nami narrowed her eyes and strained her vision. No, looking closer, it wasn't a hole. It was a gate of some sort, some kind of ancient looking, stone door that had been partially submerged by the sand. The darkness from inside looked tantalizingly cool to her.

"Who are they?" she whispered to her companion.

"No idea." was the answer, delivered in the same fashion, "But I don't like it."

"What? Why?"

"There's something fishy about it."

"What's fishy about two people getting out of a cool spot in the middle of a desert?"

"Because they're acting as if they're guarding something." Zoro explained, "And if they're guarding something, why aren't they identified? Because they're not law enforcers. If they're not law enforcers, they're not legitimate guards. They're probably tomb raiders or some sort of treasure hunters..."

"Treasure?!" came the excited whisper and Zoro turned just in time to see a greedy glint enter the girl's eyes.

"Oh, no you don't." he said, anticipating her intentions, "Where going to step around them and follow our way to the town and the Captain. No gallivanting around looking for money."

"Please...?"

"No-"

"Hey! Who the hell are you?"

"Shit!"

Zoro and Nami ducked, fleeing from the guard's inquisitive look and hurried down the dune. From the other side, they could hear the guard calling for help.

"Dammit! Zoro exclaimed while they tried to run around the structure and resume their way undetected, "This is all your fault!"

"My fault!?" Nami repeated incredulously.

"If you hadn't distracted us up there we'd never have been caught."

Nami opened her mouth, no doubt to try and pant some righteous fury upon the swordsman but, at that moment, there was a shout from behind them. Nami risked a quick look back and saw that several more guards were now running down the slope and trying to catch up to them.

Then, suddenly, from behind a small dune in front of them, jumped another man. Wasting no time, Zoro jumped right at him and smeared his knee all over the other's face. The man let out a pained gasp and fell to the ground, clutching his nose. There was more yelling now. To Nami's exhausted mind it was difficult to process what was happening. All she could do was keep following Zoro as the man turned and changed directions now and again, in an effort to lose his pursuers.

"Zoro..." she gasped, forgetting his directives regarding the teachings in her haze, "I don't think I can keep this up..."

And just then she tripped.

Zoro lunged, in an effort to catch Nami. An effort in which he ultimately succeeded. Unfortunately, the sand shifted and moved.

"What the hell?" Zoro mumbled.

All around him, the ground was moving, the sand like water in a river, flowing down a great slope. The dune was falling apart all around them, the sand following the path down and through what it seemed to be another hole in the ground, giving the whole place the appearance of a whirlpool made of desert.

With one futile effort to avert the inevitable, Zoro and Nami felt themselves be swallowed by the sands.

d

They landed with a thud and, for a moment, just stayed where they'd fallen, the sand engulfing them until the flow eventually diminished to a small stream and finally disappeared. Suddenly, a weak voice broke the silence, wavering and uncertain and it took a few moments for Nami to realize it had been her own voice that had spoken.

"What now?"

Zoro didn't answer immediately and Nami wondered what was going through the swordsman's head. Would he blame this development on her? She supposed her timing with her insistence in getting the treasure could have been better, but even so the previous accusation from the green haired man that their discovering had been her complete fault had stung.

He sighed.

"Now we get out of here and back to the Captain."

It was hard work getting rid of all the sand, especially in almost complete darkness. With the exception of a few cracks in the ceiling, here and there, there were no other sources of light that Nami could see, and for a moment they just stood there, hesitating in the dark.

Eventually, however, their eyes adjusted enough that they were able to see their surroundings. They'd fallen into what appeared to be a large room, big enough that Nami suspected the whole fair grounds of Cocoyasi could be fit inside it. Most of it appeared to be blocked by sand but, fortunately, on the wall nearby, stood what looked to have once been a door. Part of it was obstructed but, if they squeezed, they'd probably be able to pass through. As far as Nami could see, that was the only exit out of the room, since the way they'd come in was pretty much inaccessible anyway. The remainder of the room was pretty much unremarkable with the exception of the walls, which had a sort of uneven look about them.

With a gasp, Nami realized what she'd been looking at.

There were drawings. But not really drawings, she realized: the entirety of the wall was covered in reliefs depicting various scenes from what appeared to be an important event. Men and women dressed in exotic clothes gathered around what seemed to be a leader of some sort. In another one, a huge sea king, or at least an animal similar to it, attacked a large armada of ships. The people in the ships faced the monster with fierce expressions even as they fell to the seas. It was awe inspiring.

Nami turned, searching for Zoro and seeking his opinion, only to find that the man was already trying to slip through the entrance. She scowled. Of course he wouldn't care about pictures in the walls.

"What are you doing Zoro?" she asked, approaching him.

He gave her a look.

"What does it look like? I'm getting out of here." he frowned, "And I told you to calm me Sensei during the sessions."

Nami huffed and pushed, throwing him through the door and sending him tumbling down the sand.

"Shut up. I hardly think this is the time for that. The training has already been shot to hell, anyway."

She passed through just as Zoro got back to his feet. The exit had opened to a corridor that curved ahead and was immersed in darkness. This time, there were no cracks in the ceiling for light to come through but, from the other side, Nami thought she could make out a faint orange glow, that seemed to shift at irregular intervals.

"I think I see light, ahead." she whispered.

"Yes." Zoro agreed, "Let's advance. But carefully. If we're still in the same ruins, those might be our pursuers' friends."

Carefully they went, following the curving path, as the light grew more and more pronounced. Soon they were able to not only hear voices but understand what they were saying. The entrance to the room the corridor ended in was just ahead.

As far as they could tell, there were only two voices.

"So what happened back there?" asked one.

"Beats me." answered the other, "Some kind of disturbance. The guys upfront saw two strangers spying on the entrance."

"Spying?"

"Well, that's what they said. You know those new recruits, always looking for a chance to make a name for themselves. One of them even came back with a broken nose. Probably got it from a fist fight with one of the others and tried to make a story out of it..."

There was a pause and the first voice insisted, sounding worried,

"What if they were spies, though? I heard the Alabastans where tightening their laws on bounty-hunting and paramilitary groups."

Next to her, Zoro straightened slightly when he hear the reference to bounty-hunters.

The second voice sounded vaguely dismissive,

"I know. But I don't think it was them. The King of Alabasta has his hands full with Lord Crocodile's machinations. He's not going to waste resources on bounty-hunters, much less on a guild the size of our Baroque Works. We've got too much man-power to be taken down easily. He can't afford it."

"What about the Drummers?"

"They don't venture here. Desert territory is under Alabasta's purview. And Drum Kingdom's shot to hell, anyway. There's nothing to worry about."

"I hope you're right..."

"I know I'm right." replied the second voice, this time smugly, before changing to weary, "What I hope is that Lord Crocodile sends more men down here. I don't feel safe standing next to this thing..."

"I know. Just the two of us to guard this monster? The boss must be insa-"

No sooner than he heard the man say 'just the two of us', Zoro snapped from the wall he'd been pressed into and, without giving both Nami and the guards time to react, rounded the corner and closed the distance between himself and the sentinels in the blink of an eye. By the time the Navigator made it to the room, the two guards lay on the ground, a deep slash across each of their necks. Nami lifted a hand to her mouth, vaguely in horror.

"What the hell did you just do?" She almost screamed, "You murdered them!"

In a flash he was there, his hand pressed against her mouth, keeping her from making any noise.

"Shut up, you idiot! You're going to get us all killed!" he hissed. When it became obvious no one was coming he dropped to the two bodies and started going through their stuff, "These are members of a mercenary and bounty-hunting guild: Baroque Works."

"And that warrants you killing them just like that?" Nami asked almost hysterically.

"It warrants, because Baroque Works' specialty is assassination and kidnapping." he explained, not sounding phased in the least, "And they're known for not letting anyone alive to tell of their exploits"

"And yet you know about them." she fired sarcastically.

"They tried recruiting me, a few years back." the swordsman said, sending her a dry look, "Besides, I did the same line of work. They don't leave witnesses but their employers talk. How else would they get contracts?"

Nami stood in silent turmoil, her mind still not fully prepare to accept the validity of what her partner said. On some instinctual level, she knew they'd eventually have to kill some of their enemies, but to have it jump to her face without warning like that had left her shaken.

"What I don't understand is wha- hello? What have we here?"

With a quick movement, Zoro grabbed the torch hanging on the wall and approached the wall opposite to them. That's when she saw it. It was a figure, pressed against the wall, just outside the undulating glare of the torches. Its arms were raise above the head and were restricted in an odd way. The wrists were bound in two sets of handcuffs, one bulky and stony looking, which Nami found odd, because no one used stones as a binding material, and another, regular one out of iron from which sprouted a chain that secured the figure's arms against the mentioned wall. It was a woman, from the looks of it, and she was dressed in the most uncomfortable looking clothes Nami had ever seen. Looking closely, it didn't even seem as if they were clothes, just something designed to make sure not an inch of your body had any kind of contact with the outside air. From the shape, the figure seemed to be a woman, but given the tightness of the clothes, it was difficult to say for certain. Her head, if it was a woman, was completely wrapped in an artifact that did not allow for the person to see, hear, or even speak. The only thing it had free was the nose, so that the subject enclosed in it could breathe. It was prison for the senses, designed to isolate the victim from the world as completely as possible.

"Who is that?" Nami asked, half horrified at the woman's state.

"Probably a prisoner." Zoro said ponderously, "My first guess would be that she was an abducted prisoner they were keeping for ransom or for a client. But that doesn't explain this." he said, hesitatingly pointing to the gear the person was in, "this looks like a too specific apparatus for a normal prisoner. It makes me... uneasy."

"Why's that?" Nami asked, curiously edging towards the woman while, at the same time, maintaining somewhat of a safe distance.

"Because you don't go to this extent to bind a prisoner unless there's a good reason for it. And because these bastards were downright terrified of being here alone with her."

Nami felt silent for a few moments, pondering on his words. She was about to ask the swordsman on the best course of action when Zoro reached and, grasping the back of the woman's neck, began fumbling with the straps that kept a bondage ball pressed against her mouth. The woman jerked, an almost surprised move and the gag-ball came loose with a string of saliva. She gasped, inhaling deeply and it all looked disgustingly pornographic to Nami and she only had the presence of mind to note that the bondage item seemed to be made of stone as well.

Zoro barely got the opportunity to motion for the straps that held the head gear secure when things took a turn for the weird. Then went downright to horrific. The woman gagged loudly a couple of times and her tongue lolled out, an unnaturally long tongue that went pas her chin. The skin on the member rippled and bubbled and started to deform as an arm began to literally grow from the woman's organ.

"What the hell?!"

Zoro jumped away with a jerky reflex and Nami couldn't avoid the terrified scream that escaped from her throat. As the swordsman battled against his own horror, trying to unsheathe his swords with fumbling fingers, the arm violently thrashed and, with strength that seemed impossible to exist in a member hung from a fleshy thing like a tongue, forcefully ripped the suit at the sides. Two more arms started to grow at alarming speed from the holes ripped in the clothes and a mouth ripped open in the first arm and started speaking in a slightly rough voice before Nami's horrified eyes.

"You idiots." came the voice, "Sea-stone only works in direct contact with skin." with an arching movement, the unnatural appendices pulled the chain holding the original arms up and, with tremendous force, ripped them from the wall.

A new opening started to form on the arm and an eye sprung open just as Zoro finally managed to get a hold of himself and prepared to jump towards the monster. Who stopped and almost seemed puzzled for a moment.

"You're not Baroque Works." it stated, as an arm reached up and started to tug at the straps on the head.

There was a moment of stillness as Zoro and the thing seized each other up.

"What makes you say that?" the swordsman finally grunted.

The creature shrugged inconsequentially as the clasps finally started to come undone. The headgear fell to the ground, revealing a mass of hair that fell down in a straight stream an promptly encompassed the face of a woman.

"You don't give that feeling."

"And just from that you know we're not with them."

"The fact you just said 'them' pretty much confirms it, in a way." the woman remarked with a sly grin that made her look a little more attractive than she had the right to be, considering she was still speaking from a mouth in an arm hanging from her tongue.

Almost as if acknowledging that fact, the protuberances started to break apart, falling to the ground in pieces, like petals from a flower of a cherry tree.

"Sorry about the scare." she said, not looking apologetic at all, "You didn't happen to find a stony key lying around when you went about butchering these idiots, did you?" she asked, looking around the room and noting the dead mercenaries on the floor.

"Was that a Demon Fruit power?" Zoro asked instead, completely ignoring the question.

"Obviously." the woman replied with an eye roll, "Were you under the impression I could grow extra limbs by myself? Or did you think the sea-stone was a fashion choice?" she asked in a tone as if they were having a pleasant conversation and she hadn't just given them a vision of nightmares. Zoro did not relax one bit, Nami managed to note through the fog of terror that was slowly starting to dissipate.

"W-what's sea-stone?" Nami blurted out before the swordsman could retort.

The woman looked at her with a blank face.

"You're either terrible actors or you're awfully unprepared, coming to the Grand Line this ignorant." she noted dryly, "Either way, you're idiots." she commented, "How about this: find me the key and release me from this cuffs, and I'll answer a few of your questions. Do we have a deal."

As the two members of the Straw-hat crew continued to eye her with suspicion, the woman made a gesture of frustration and groaned, as if in commiseration for her own fate of dealing with such simpletons.

"Look, it's not as if I can't grow more right now! What are you afraid of?" she exclaimed in exasperation, "How would you like to run around handcuffed like this? It would be really easy to blend in with the crowd and avoid recapture, right?"

Zoro opened his mouth and closed it noiselessly, suddenly drawing himself straight and bending towards the other exit of the room, listening closely. Noticing this, the woman turned in that direction, listening intently as well and, with strained ears, Nami was able to make out the sound of several footsteps, approaching hurriedly.

"Shit!"

Zoro quickly hugged the wall, a motion that was copied by the mysterious woman, on the opposite side of the exit. Nami scampered to the wall next to the swordsman.

"Get out your knife." the First Mate whispered almost inaudibly, "We aren't getting out of here without making a few of them bleed."

The swordsman turned his attention to the corridor once again, not even noticing the jerky nods she gave him, as the girl gripped the handle of her jungle knife with shaky hands, her knuckles white with the force and fear both. Nami swallowed dry, her breath coming in short, ragged spurts as the footsteps grew closer and closer.

Suddenly there was a shout of alarm and a voice yelled, "She's not there!"

There was a flurry of invectives and curses and some the entire band of mercenaries seemed to roll into the room in an uncoordinated mass.

Zoro and the woman jumped them immediately not even giving them time to asses the situation. Cries of alarm mixed with screams of pain and the gurgle of blood and two bandits were down before any of the others had the time to relax. Nami stood petrified against the wall as the Pirate Hunter unleashed his fearsome fury into the hapless mercenaries, his demonic figure cutting limbs left and right. Close by, the woman made flowing movements with her arms, the motions somewhat stiff and uncomfortable, as she used the extra limbs she'd grown to keep the mercenaries at bay and waved her original arms in set patterns.

"This isn't working!" she screamed at Zoro, "cut my arms off!"

"WHAT?!" the swordsman screamed in disbelief, occupied in fending of two mercenaries at once.

"Just do it!" the woman insisted, "above the cuffs! Quickly!"

If it had been on any other situation, Zoro would have probably refused to acquiesce with the order. But, in the heat of the battle, he didn't even hesitate, his brain unconcerned with ethics or the security of a total stranger. In an arched move he broke from the engagement and severed the woman's arms in a quick slash, before returning to his fight.

The mysterious woman let out a hoarse cry and, with tremendous effort waved her freed limbs around and sprayed as many mercenaries with her blood as possible. Then, with great pain, the wound closed itself and the members started to regrow at the severed point.

There was a cry of disgust and fear from their enemies but Nami's attention was distracted by a sharp pain on her back, close to the side. She gasped a cry of pain and jerked a way, her hand coming from that spot red with her own blood as she spun around and faced a mercenary with a face twisted in a grotesque mask of terrified, desperate anger, in the face of the slaughter they were facing. The man screamed in wordless rage and ran at her, heedless of danger, blind by terror, his mind reduced to only the most basic of functions. Nami moved, the pain and terror making her unable to think and she jerked in an instinctive motion, her hand darting forward, past the flailing man's arms and burying her knife in his chest. The mercenary's eyes bulged, his breath hitched and he gurgled. He looked at his chest almost in wonder an toppled to the floor, dead.

Nami collapsed to her knees and looked around, her hand automatically going to her back, pressing against the wound. Looking around with wild movements she noticed that all the assailants were dead, just in time to see Zoro take notice of her state and widen his eyes at her wound.

There were petals everywhere, she noted absently as the swordsman ran towards her and the pain hit her full-force. It hurt. She could barely breathe. The last thing she remembered was Zoro's face hovering over her with a preoccupied expression while the woman observed dispassionately. Then darkness took her.

* * *

The first thing Nami became aware of was a frigid sensation right on her back. The cold eventually gave way to heat until the wound got back to burning with a fiery pain. She became aware that she was lying in a bed, her stomach down, and that a person was sitting on a chair at her bedside.

"Ah. You're awake. Good."

Nami's eyes widened and she tried to move as she realized who was standing there and the memories of the fight came back to her. A firm hand held her down.

"Don't move. You are still hurt. I'm only here as a stand-in in case your condition worsened. There are a few people who'll be very glad to see you awake." the strange woman, still clad in the rags of her torture apparatus, said, "I will call them here."

There was a rustling and the woman disappeared from her field of view. Nami laid there, washing her eyes over the room. The ornate desk and the immaculate chair told her where she was: Luffy's personal cabin. Now that she had placed herself, Nami realized she could actually feel the ship crashing against the waves. They'd probably set sail while she'd been unconscious.

There was a sound like a stampede and Nami couldn't avoid a smile when Sanji and Usopp crashed through the door and came barreling to a stop next to her, Usopp's kid face split in a joyous smile.

"Nami-swan!" Sanji exclaimed, doing what looked like a strange dance on the spot, "I'm so glad you're awake!"

"Are you alright, Nami?" Usopp asked at the same time, garbling both messages.

"I'm fine." she smiled in return, "It just hurts."

Sanji's face turned serious in an instant.

"Yeah, about that." he started, pulling a chair to sit down, "It's a deep wound. I've dressed it the best I can and Usopp put in a few stitches but you still have to be seen by a doctor. Don't try to move, alright?"

"You know how to stitch?" she asked Usopp, a surprised look on her face.

The kid bowed his head in an embarrassed way, "I learned a bit." he admitted, "Kaya always wanted to be a doctor and when she apprenticed as one I sometimes got roped into her lessons. But I don't actually know anything worthwhile." he finished, "If Robin hadn't found the first-aid kit you'd be in a very bad way..."

Nami tried shifting slightly and was rewarded by a piercing pain that instantly made her regret the attempt. Grudgingly settling down, she asked, "Who's Robin?"

"The chick that made it back with you and the seaweed." Sanji informed her, jerking his thumb towards the door, for once foregoing any of his antics, "You didn't know?"

"We didn't exactly have time for pleasantries." she explained, shuddering has the memories of the blood came back to her. "What about Zoro? Is he alright?" she asked frantically as another memory from the confrontation came back and she was faced with her own uselessness during the fight.

"He's outside, with the Captain. They're manning the ship." Sanji answered, placating "Robin-chan found a permanent log-pose to a country in the Grand Line supposedly famous for its doctors. She allowed us to use it in exchange for taking her to Alabasta, afterward."

With a grunt, the cook got up from the chair and to his feet, "Try to rest, Nami-chan. And don't worry about the ship," he added, as if reading her thoughts, "even Luffy can point the ship in the direction of a log-pose's arrow..." he grabbed Usopp by the collar and dragged the struggling teen to the door, "There, Nami-chan's fine so now you don't have any excuse to jump training." he stated, and rising his voice over the other's protests said, "have a good rest, Nami-chan!"

The door closed and the noises from Usopp's struggling grew increasingly fainter, until her ears could no longer catch them. Nami was left alone with her thoughts.

The aftermath of their adventure in the ruins more than hurt and not in physical way either. She'd been completely useless! Despair gripped Nami's heart as she realized that, despite all her talk of wanting to get stronger and pull her weight for the crew, she'd not only managed to freeze and get injured in a fight but had probably made Zoro's return to the ship and even harder task as well. Her mind started to review the battle again and again, berating herself for her mistakes and panicking with the irrational fear of being labeled as a burden and being booted from the crew.

It was some hours before her mind finally shut down, exhausted with pain and worry.

* * *

**A.N.: New chapter. As has become the norm, late and out of order with the prediction on the profile page. I'm currently struggling with a scene in the Nightshade that I want to get right, thus why it hasn't been updated. That and because I have no time at all lately. Sorry, but I have to secure a life before I can write for leisure.  
**

**I hope you like this chapter. I'm kind of happy with how it came out.**

**Review if you'd like. As alwys I apologize for the mistakes.**


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